ISLAMABAD: The Compe-tition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Monday fined A. Rahim Foods (Private) Limited (Dawn Foods) Rs20 million for copying the product packaging and labelling of K&N’s Foods (Private) Limited in violation of the Competition Act, 2010.

The fine was imposed on a complaint filed by K&N’s.

The order was passed by a bench comprising CCP Chairwoman Vadiyya Khalil, Shahzad Ansar (Member Office of Fair Trade and Advocacy) and Ikramul Haque Qureshi (Member Cartels and Trade Abuses, and Legal).

The issue before the bench was whether Dawn Foods’ packaging and labelling of its frozen and/or processed meat products was deceptively similar to that of K&N’s. Other allegations against Dawn Foods made by the complainant were that its use of the term ‘Combo Wings’ amounted to fraudulent use of K&N’s trademark, and that this was capable of harming K&N’s business interests.

The CCP found that Dawn Foods had violated Section 10(2d) of the act by resorting to “parasitic copying” or “copycat packaging” of K&N’s products, with the result that ordinary consumers could be deceived into purchasing Dawn Foods products by confusing them with K&N’s.

It was found that this was misleading and deceptive by its very nature and would lead to the eventual dilution of K&N’s brand identity and goodwill that it had built over the years.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2016