Regulation and practices regarding packaging - Innovation protection

When a designer or engineer designs or invents a packaging that shows a certain originality or even inventiveness, intellectual property can provide protection.

It is divided into two branches:

• copyright, which concerns works of the mind;

• industrial property, covering designs, patents and trademarks.

These two protection modes correspond to different logics:

• copyright arises from the mere existence of a creation, no formalities being required for the recognition of rights in favor of the author;

• the granting of industrial property rights is the result of administrative procedures leading to the issue of a title deed.

However, there are three points in common to all these protection methods:

• ideas are "free range", i.e. they cannot be appropriated as such. The idea for a story must give rise to a screenplay, the idea for a new packaging handle must give rise to an original formalization, or an industrial application, for an intellectual property right to exist;

• protection is only granted if certain conditions are met. Depending on the case, these may include originality, novelty or availability. However, if these conditions are not met, the unauthorized reproduction or use of packaging by a competitor, or any other person seeking to profit from a company's creativity, may give rise to compensation on the grounds of unfair or parasitic competition;

• When deciding whether a product is counterfeit, judges look for similarities, not differences.