Perfume Copyright Upheld in the Netherlands

According to James Nurton writing for Managing Intellectual Property, "The Dutch Supreme Court has upheld a 2004 Court of Appeal ruling in favour of Lancôme and against Kecofa, clearing the way for smells to be protected by copyright law in the Netherlands."

Lancôme had offered the lower court an expert report of a physical-chemical analysis of the two perfumes. The report concluded that, given the fact that there are hundreds of different components that could have been used, it is highly unlikely that it is a coincidence that Kecofa used 24 of the exact components out of the 26 in total used by Lancôme. The 25th ingredient was a cheaper substitute of the remaining Trésor component. Since the expertise of the report was not denied by Kecofa, nor the accusation of copying, the Court concluded that Kecofa must have copied Lancôme’s product and therefore violated Lancôme’s copyrights.

"If Kecofa is ever sued again, it will be more aggressive in putting counterevidence during the trial stage, in which Kecofa was caught off guard," Kecofa spokesman Leon Meels reportedly told Associated Press Writer Toby Sterling.