Lookalike products are, by their nature, difficult for brand owners to deal with. They are intended to mimic or call to mind a well-known or popular product but avoid the typical registered intellectual property rights often relied upon by brand owners. The reason that lookalike products are so difficult to deal with is that in the UK there are no specific IP rights designed to tackle them.

Lookalike manufacturers and designers are also generally sophisticated—they know to avoid obvious trade marked brand names but instead tend to copy the general design and make-up of a product. Consumers are also often not fooled by lookalike products and realise that they are buying a cheaper lookalike brand. Therefore, concepts of consumer confusion and misrepresentation are less straightforward to demonstrate. Nevertheless, lookalikes still eat into brand owner market share and use a brand identity to get a competitive advantage.

In the UK, there are a number of IP rights that may be relied upon to tackle lookalike products. These include:

1. •

   registered trade mark rights