NAKED trade mark dispute

A small bath bomb firm located in Scotland called The Naked Soap Company (Naked) plans to take on global cosmetics company L'Oreal, which has given notice of its intention to oppose Naked's trade mark application for NAKED (the Mark). The Urban Decay Naked make-up range is owned by L'Oreal, which has indicated that it believes Naked's use of the Mark would be likely to cause confusion as to the origin of the bath bombs.

According to the BBC, Naked employs twelve people and produces around 5,000 bath bombs a week. A total rebrand would be a huge cost to the business, and could threaten its employees roles or even the business as a whole.

In a report with the BBC Scotland news, Mr Rushforth, founder of Naked, said that there was no similarity between the products and there would be no customer confusion. He is of the view that this is a case of trade mark bullying.

It will be interesting to follow the outcome of this dispute as Mr Rushforth appears to be very determined to press on with the application for the Mark.

If you have any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniel & Co. on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.