California-based cosmetics company Olaplex has filed a lawsuit against L'Oréal’s North American branch, the Wall Street Journal reported. In court filings, the company alleged that the French firm unlawfully copied technology it uses in hair-colouring products, as well as the marketing infrastructure used to promote them.
The case concerns Olaplex Bond Multiplier No 1, a product which protects hair during bleach treatments. Matrix Bond Ultim8, Redken pH-Bonder and L’Oréal Professionnel Smartbond are the SKUs in question.
The French cosmetics company 'wilfully took and copied Olaplex’s technology without authorisation (...) to create three slavish ‘me too’ knockoffs,' Olaplex said in its court statement.
In 2015, L'Oréal tried to poach some of its key personnel and then approached them about an acquisition, the American company claimed. It alleged that during this time, L'Oréal received confidential information about the product, such as chemical make-up, patents, and social media strategy.
L'Oréal defended their products and commented,'We strongly oppose the merit of these claims and the validity of the [Olaplex] patent and L’Oréal USA will defend this position vigorously.'
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
