Trademarks Legal Questions

This is an interesting question, and the answer depends on how you are sourcing this product and whether you have permission from the manufacturer to re-label it for sale.  Typcically, there are two ways trademark infringement occurs with repackaging. Imagine Company A with a superior Product A, and Company B with an inferior Product B. In regular "passing off", Company B sells its product under Company A's brand, in an attempt to mislead consumers into thinking they are buying the superior Product A. In "reverse passing off," Company B purchases Product A but re-labels it as Product B, misleading consumers into thinking that Company B provides a high-quality product. With respect to the trademarks on the bottles, you would probably not be committing infringement. Since you are only selling the bulk product to the customer, and the customer is providing their own containers, you are not misleading your customers into believing you are selling the branded product (i.e., there is no "passing off"). However, there could still be trademark issues if the soap/detergent product you are selling so closely resembles another name brand (such as by using their unique color or perfume) that customers believe you are selling the branded product even though you told them you are not. For this reason, I would still recommend that you provide a clear disclaimer to customers that the product you are selling is your own, regardless of what container the customer provides to be filled, and that you do not claim any trademark rights to and have no association with brands that originally supplied the containers you are filling for customers.  However, there might be infringement with respect to your supplier of detergents and soaps. This will depend entirely on your agreement with the supplier, and whether they permit you to re-package their product for resale. This is a concept known as "white labeling," and it is usually specified in the contract between the manufacturer and the retailer. If you don't have the supplier's permission to re-label the product for resale, then you are essentially reverse passing off your supplier's product as your own, which is infringement.  Of course, if you are manufacturing the soaps and detergents yourself then there should be no infringement (assuming that your name is not otherwise confusuingly similar to the other brands). But I would still recommend including a disclaimer to better protect yourself if a trademark dispute ever arises. Beyond these issues, I am unsure whether there are any state or local laws or regulations that control how soap and detergent products may be sold and marketed to consumers. It is possible that there are labeling requirements based on the ingredients included in your product, even if they all have natural origins. It is best to consult a lawyer familiar with such product labeling requirements or licenses you may need to acquire to offer this product to consumers. ... Read More