The ECJ has come down in favour of the cosmetics giant's claim that Bellure enjoyed an ‘unfair advantage', infringing a number of its trade marks by distributing a ‘smell-a-like' list to UK retailers that compared its fragrances to L'Oréal products.
Kirsten Gilbert, solicitor at intellectual property firm Marks & Clerk, said: ‘Quite clearly, the court takes the view that imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery, even when there is no confusion in the marketplace between two products.
‘In particular, it makes clear that rivals cannot use comparative advertising as a safe-harbour, short-circuiting their own commercial endeavour by implicitly or explicitly presenting their goods as imitating or replicating a well-known product,' she added.
She said that a ‘more even balance' had been struck between the rights of brand owners, and the promotion of fair competition,
The case has now been referred back to the Court of Appeal.
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