Sales ban for 'Le-Pliage'-like handbags?

Handbags are popular items for product counterfeiters. Imitations of the well-known 'Le-Pliage' handbag series manufactured by Longchamp are distributed worldwide. The Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Hamm had to decide whether handbags of a different manufacturer constitute unfair competition imitations or not.

The well-known French manufacturer Longchamp has been distributing handbags under the name 'Le-Pliage' on the German market in various shapes and colours for around 10 years.

A Dortmund retailer offers handbags from a different manufacturer which, in the view of the suing French manufacturer, constitute an impermissible imitation of the 'Le-Pliage' series handbag.

The defendant, the owner of the retail business, was of a different opinion and refused to cease the sale of the handbags in question.

Court decision

The OLG Hamm ruled in favour of the French manufacturer and, by means ofjudgment of 16.06.2015, Az. 4 U 32/14, ordered the retailer to pay damages for her previous sales transactions. Furthermore, the court prohibited the defendant from continuing to sell imitated 'Le-Pliage' handbags.

The decision of the OLG Hamm was justified on the grounds of a breach of competition law. The handbags distributed by the Dortmund retailer constituted an almost identical and therefore unfair competition imitation of the 'Le-Pliage' handbags. Differences existed only in details and did not justify a different assessment in view of the agreement in the fundamental design features. The customer was deceived as to the origin of the handbags because he would assume that they were handbags manufactured by the French manufacturer.

While the retailer offered the handbags in question for EUR 24.95 and thus considerably cheaper than the handbags in the plaintiff's assortment, according to the OLG Hamm, an average consumer would assume that it was a budget model.

Conclusion

Even with substantial price differences and entirely different details of the products, one cannot rely on the fact that an unfair competition imitation does not exist.