P&G files Head & Shoulders trademark infringement suit

Multinational consumer goods company Procter & Gamble (P&G) has filed a trademark infringement and trade dress lawsuit against a US-based health and beauty care business.

P&G filed its lawsuit at the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee yesterday, October 31, against  Vi-Jon.

The suit focused on Vi-Jon’s own-brand dandruff  shampoos, which are sold in “major retail outlets”in the US, including Dollar General, CVS and Kroger.

In the complaint, P&G alleged that the shampoo bottles mimic the shape, colours and label of its Head & Shoulders brand in a way that infringed its trade dress.

Vi-Jon’s own brands consist of a predominately white bottle with a flat right side, a convex left side, a translucent blue cap and labelling to differentiate between the various types of Vi-Jon’s products, according to the claim.

“Not only does the Vi-Jon trade dress misappropriate all of the key elements of the Head & Shoulders trade dress as a general matter, it does so at certain retailers on a product by product basis.”

P&G said it has spent at least $78 million on the advertising and promotion of products packaged in the Head & Shoulders trade dress.

The trademark for ‘Head & Shoulders’was registered in 1962 at the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Deborah Majoras, chief legal officer of P&G, said: “We invest heavily in all aspects of our product, and its appearance has become inextricably linked with what we stand for to our consumers.

“When a competitor makes products that come too close to our legally protected trademarks and trade dress, it’s unfair to consumers, and to our employees and shareholders, and we will challenge those violations,”she added.

Head & Shoulders anti-dandruff shampoo has been sold by P&G since 1961 and the brand has used celebrities such as Formula One driver Jenson Button to market its product.