Bliss Brands has been found in contempt of court for copying Colgate-Palmolive's Protex packaging, which the Advertising Regulatory Board had previously ruled against. The board's appeals committee has now also ruled against a L'Oréal competitor for mimicking its popular skincare range, CeraVe.

Listen to this article 6 min Listen to this article 6 min Copycat packaging has landed two manufacturers in hot water this month: one with the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB), and another in the Johannesburg High Court.

In the first case, the regulator's appeals committee ruled against Nutriwomen, the manufacturer of the Dermacare range, after the company appealed against an earlier decision that its packaging was too similar to the popular CeraVe range, manufactured by L'Oréal South Africa.

L'Oréal had originally complained to the ARB that Dermacare's current packaging "substantially copies the packaging and get-ups of the complainant's various CeraVe products and by extension, exploits the advertising goodwill attaching to the complainant's packaging and get-up".

It said CeraVe's packaging is highly distinctive, recognised globally through significant advertising, including in South Africa, and that Nutriwomen, a competitor, had copied CeraVe with similar packaging, colour schemes, and product descriptions. L'Oréal said Nutriwomen had taken advantage of CeraVe's established goodwill and created a misleading association that might confuse consumers about an affiliation between the brands, potentially damaging CeraVe's reputation.

Both CeraVe and Nutriwomen's products compete directly in the same stores, targeting the same consumer base for similar purposes. L'Oréal argued that Nutriwomen had...