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Summary of the panel ‘Branded Products‘31.10.2025

The next summary deals with a panel on the protection of branded products and the issue of look-a-like which has also often been dealt with by the courts.

The panel entitled "Protection of Branded Products – How far does protection of branded products under unfair competition law go and what are registered intellectual property rights good for?" of the LIDC Congress 2025 in Vienna, chaired by Christian Schumacher, partner at Schoenherr Attorneys at Law in Vienna, brought together an interdisciplinary and international group of speakers. The topic of the session was the protection of the original manufacturers against look-a-like products, where unfair competition rights and the various IP rights such as trademarks, designs and copyright play together.

The general idea of the panel was to talk about the issue of look-a-like products from the perspective of

the likely perception of the consumers and detriments caused to the (typically market-leading) branded products
the legal protection available in various jurisdictions, in particular as regards the strength of unfair competition claims and how registered IP rights (trademarks, design rights) or even copyright can assist the branded goods producers to prevent unlawful look-a-likes.

A good example of what is at stake has been rather recently the Thatchers vs Aldi case in the UK (see https://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/01/sweet-success-for-thatchers-in-court-of.html). In Austria, a rather recent case concerned a look-a-like of the Jägermeister products (see https://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/08/a-tale-of-three-deer.html). And there are a lot more look-a-likes around, which lead to court decisions and which we as consumers encounter in the shops.

Cordula Cerha, senior lecturer at the Institute for Retailing and Data Science at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department for Marketing, introduced the audience in the marketing aspects of intended product similarity, explaining in particular the fashionable "Dupe culture", where affordable alternatives of premium or luxury products are promoted. Barbara Angela Johnson Johnson, Associate General Counsel for IP at the Better Business Bureau in the US, focusing on advancing marketplace trust, added the consumer perspective in particular also as regards the non-luxury products sector.

Erich Schwarzenbacher, judge at the Austrian Supreme Court, presiding the senate specialized in all matters IP and unfair competition, outlined the different legal approaches to look-a-likes in recent decisions of the senate.

Finally, Felipe Oquendo, partner at Lick's Attorneys in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and an experienced IP litigator, completed the picture by adding IP rights and unfair competition enforcement aspects especially from the Latin American perspective, pointing to several cases.

In summary, the panel showed the complexity both of the non-legal and also the legal perspectives to the ongoing trend of imitation of successful products in the market.

#LIDCVienna

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Summary of the panel ‘Branded Products‘31.10.2025

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