I'm not a lawyer and don't play one on TV. The only similarities I see between their packaging and yours is the font . . . along with your white circle in the upper right corner vs their black circle in the upper right corner. Is that seriously enough to meet the criteria for a trade dress lawsuit?
Well, luckily for me I am a lawyer and can do legal research, and my research says an emphatic no unless they can somehow prove actual confusion, but my god I cannot fathom the idiot they'd have to drag in.
"So this box a rectangle and has WSP plastered everywhere, and this box is a square with a weird robe wearing mascot with bubbles on it. Are you confused as to whether these brands are the same?"
The box is certainly not unique- Kraft sells those in bulk online to anyone, complete with the circle cut-out in the corner. Lots of soapers use them. Are they going to send 'cease & desist' letters to them, too?
My hubby, who doesn't suffer fools gladly, thinks it would serve them right if they were 'Twitter-shamed'. :razz:
IrishLass
Do you have a link? That may prove very useful if they actually issue a complaint. And just more icing on the cake if they keep sending me letters.
Feel free to share. I didn't write it. I give you free license to the photos.
Unbelievable that customers confuse your rectangular shaped soap's packaging for the other square shaped soap's 'unique and non-funtional' packaging. (And what does non-functional packaging even mean?)
The font is not the same. Notice the B on your soap's packaging and the B on his Bay Rum soap (on his website). Not even a match. The only similarity between fonts that I see is the drop shadow and using all caps. (I went to both yours and his websites to get a better look at the packaging of bar soaps.)
I guess the cigar band type part of the label is similar, but is it similar enough that it's forbidden on your Wet Shaving Soap packages when it's in a box with a cut-out hole and lines around the edge? Maybe so if he is so very well known and his products have been around for a long time, but it sure seems more than nit-picky.
BTW, he claims his soap is natural (checked out a blogpost via a link on his site and he says so.) Now I'm being nit-picky.
It's a legal standard if they decide to actually try for the real trade dress protection of inherently distinctive, which they absolutely cannot do as every element of their design is either generic or functional. But the lawyer put it in just in case.
No, the font is not the same. The only similarity is a drop shadow which is ubiquitous in design and fonts in general.
Since a cigar band is widely used in the industry, it's probable that it's just a generic design choice. However, since it reduces the cost & serves as a tamper evident seal, it is functional and not deserving of trade dress protection.
A cutout is generic as ****. No protections whatsoever.
He's only been around since 2014 according to the letter, so I actually predate him as a company, but my packaging does not predate theirs. But as everything they use is generic and basically looks like every other soap box, he cannot possibly get distinctiveness.
They buy their soaps from thesoapguy. Don't even bother to change the scent names. No joke. Go look.
https://thesoapguy.com/masterloavespage.html
