In the lawsuit, P&G states that private label manufacturer Team Technologies is being unlawful by manufacturing and selling its Oral Care Whitening Dental Strips and Ultra Whitening Strips.
The company says that the manufacturing and sales is contrary to its patenting rights, which prohibits the right to do so without its express permission, which it says was not given.
The lawsuit specifies that P&G is taking the action in an effort to ‘protect its investment in its technology and its Crest Whitestrips business'.
Lawsuit aims to protect investment in the brand
“P&G has made significant investments in the innovations behind our Crest Whitestrips products. We treat infringements of our intellectual property rights protecting these innovations very seriously,” said Deborah Majoras, chief legal officer at P&G.
“By filing a lawsuit against Team Technologies, we are taking steps to protect this investment and our business.”
The company claims to be the first oral care player to hit the market with an at-home whitening product when it launched the Crest Whitestrips in the United States back in 2001.
Since the launch of this first product, the company has built upon the product portfolio to launch the Crest 3D White Whitestrips, which incorporates the company’s 3D White adhesion technology, aimed at enhancing the efficacy of the strips.
P&G battles hard to guard its brands
P&G has a reputation for being litigious and has a string of similar lawsuits to its name, aimed at protecting the investment it makes to develop, market and sell its brands.
Last year the company raised another high profile lawsuit against cosmetics and personal care company Vi-Jon for violating its intellectual property rights for one of its mouthwash products.
The product in question was the consumer goods giant’s Scope Outlast mouthwash. P&G asserted that the bottle and label shape on Vi-Jon’s mouthwash product infringed its design patents trade dress, trademarks and copyright.
The lawsuit aimed to stop Vi-Jon from violating P&G's intellectual property and selling the infringing products and was won.