Until now known as ‘Britain BBC International Cosmetics’, the company, which is unconnected to the British Broadcasting Corporation, produces its products in China, selling them across multiple countries, but largely in Russia.
The Russian patents office Rospatent has removed the company’s rights to use the name, following a study of the brand’s consumers which found 60.5% of respondents thought the products are made with the broadcasting corporation’s permission.
The brand
Products under the Britain BBC International Cosmetics trade name are largely produced in factories in the south of China and are available in 55 countries. The company produces ranges across hair, skin and body care.
The beauty brand came under complaint from the BBC broadcasting corporation for both the use of the three letter initial branding, and a ‘similar logo’: “the existence of two similar logos used by two different companies is confusing and can form erroneous ideas about the manufacturer of the cosmetics goods,” Rapsi reported of the patent office’s statement.
Listed as a partner company in the Batel ‘cosmetics network’ of Chinese brands in Russia, the profile for Britain BBC International Cosmetics falsely states that its ranges are produced “under the control of Britain BBC Cosmetics International, UK”, going on to claim that “this ensures a European quality control”.
Neither brand responded to requests for comment by Cosmetics Design.
Trademark scuffles
Beauty brands in trademark disputes is a hot topic at the moment, following UK brand Lush’s recent win against e-retailer Amazon in the High Court.
In a marketing move now deemed misleading for the consumer, Amazon diverted consumer searches for ‘Lush’ products to those unconnected with the beauty brand.
The court ruled in favour of Lush’s claim that this violated its intellectual property.
The judge noted that Lush has “an image which it says it wishes to preserve and it has taken the decision not to allow its goods to be sold on Amazon because of the damage that it perceives there would be to that reputation.”
The cases highlight that brand identity remains integral to beauty retail.