Baby diaper manufacturers lock horns over products

By Nancy Akinyi

Two manufacturers of baby diapers are locked in a legal tussle over infringement on design.

The companies claim they are registered at the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (Kipi) to trade on baby diapers.

Inter-consumer Products Limited wants Lordix General Supplies stopped from dealing in baby diapers pending hearing and determination of the dispute.

The plaintiff which trades in ‘Bouncy’ baby diapers told a court that the package used by its rival is similar to its own and was likely to confuse customers.

Interconsumer Products Limited has accused Lordix of selling similar goods using identical packaging, but under a different name, Lordix.

It says colours and font used on the package are the same, the face of the baby on the package and illustrations on how to use the product are similar in content and format.

It told the court that it spent more than Sh20 million on advertisement, design, concepts and artworks to come up with the product and would suffer irreparable loss if its rival was not stopped from trading on a similar design.

But Lordix has opposed the application and instead accused its rival of not accepting healthy competition. Lordix says consumers are well informed people who would easily point out the difference between the two products.