CVS and Family Dollar Stores Inc. Sued for Impressions of Perfume
I went to my local CVS store recently and saw a bunch of “Impression” perfumes. I was rather amused by them because they were basically imitations of pricey perfumes sold in high-end department stores. There were titles such as “Impression of Happy by Clinique” and “Impression of Beautiful by Estee Lauder.” Although these perfumes were knocks-offs, but at least they were not counterfeit products that claimed to be the real thing.
Unfortunately for CVS Caremark Corp, Family Dollar Stores Inc., and Preferred Fragrance Inc. (who made the knock-offs), Estee Lauder Cosmetic Inc. filed a federal lawsuit against them on Wednesday. Estee Lauder accused CVS and Family Dollar of selling imitation products that used their actual registered trademarks and/or names that were very similar to the original ones.
The suit included accusations of “trademark infringement, false advertising, diluting their trademarks and unfair competition.” It seeks for an injunction to stop CVS and Family Dollar from selling the products and asking for damages of up to $1 million for each individual type of knock-offs.
While I was in the store, I actually tried one of the “Impression” perfumes for fun. In fact, I had tried on an “Impression of Happy by Clinique.” Although the scent was somewhat similar, it was very obvious that it was an imitation because it smelled mustier than the real Clinique Happy. However, if people can’t afford the real one, I don’t think it is a huge deal to buy an imitation if one did not mind the scent difference.
On the other hand, I can see why Estee Lauder and Clinique would be worried about the loss of business from the knock-offs. Then again, if a person is buying an imitation due to its lower price tag, they wouldn’t be buying the real, more expensive version anyway. Not that I am advocating knock-offs, but why not let everyone (who can and cannot afford the authentic product) enjoy the scent as long as it’s not counterfeit and contain questionable ingredients.
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June 13th, 2008 at 11:04 am
I agree. I don’t see the big deal with perfume knock-offs. However, I suppose I can see how their name use could ruffle their feathers a bit.
June 13th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
It’s not fair play anymore to use a designer name on a non-designer product. They should really just use another name as lawsuits are heating up regarding copyright infringement.
I guess there is a lot of money to be lost for a company when this occurs. In fact, I saw an artist using the LV logo and handbag in a t-shirt design and they are suing her - and it was for charity to help Darfur.
June 16th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I recall seeing these and few smelled close to real thing.
They will probably just change the names to something similar but not the actual trademark.
July 10th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
O.K. Lets face it, NOBODY really thinks there buying the “the real perfume” for $2.00-$3.00 dollars when the real ones go for $40.00-$75.00 bucks each, I understand Estee’s point but Preffered did not imitate the real perfume just compared there’s to the real ones. hey my wife bought Pantene shampoo but them discovered it was Vantine? Now in that case it looked exactly like the real one and was decieved by that purchase to top it off it cost the same so walking down the aisle you would never know, the stores pay much less for it but make much more on it, that is wrong all the way, but if it were $1.00 she would stop and look again saying why so cheap and notice that it is a knock off but in the perfume deal the price is so different with perfume nobody could make that mistake, since when does Estee sell there perfume in Family Dollar Stores? Never so how can one make a mistake? Hey lets face it copying items are bad, if China did not copy everything made in the U.S. where would they be, asking you how many pound of rice do you want to buy? Instead they steal technology from us make it in China cheap, stupid Americans buy there crap and the money does come back from China, yep they come back and buy U.S. banks and the bankrupt companies they copied there Ideals from, The U.S> goverment is about the most stupid buch of morones in the world, I got an Ideal , Tax the crap coming in from China and watch the U.S. manufacturing jobs come right back, keep the American dollar in America!!! we won the battle but are losing the war, don’t let anyone tell you different, soon all your bosses will have slant eyes saying ” no ,no stop work, hurri, hurri, we want fuck all U.S.!!