Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: Brand Name Replicas

By "clear" and I assuming that you are meaning that it is clearly a duplicate without the effort to change any detail of the product. A trademark only identifies the source of the goods not the actual goods. Gucci trademark of the double G's is a good example. You can not sell a purse with their trademark, but you can sell a purse without the G's. Barbie is the trademark, so you can not sell a doll and call it Barbie, but you can sell a doll.

These are generalities but you get the gest of it. Some product designs are covered by design patents and some can even be trademarked themselves, such as the coke bottle shape. So the Barbie doll could possibly be covered by another protection ( though doubtful )

Advertising it as a knockoff actually uses their trademark, which you can not do without their permission, as you are trying to not only knock off their product but are also trying to tell the public, that you are modelling the product after the trademarked one. You can use another's trademark to identify the other company, but you can't use it to say that you are passing yourself off as them. You have heard of the grey market Gucci and Polo's that are stopped at the docks.

Going back to purse example. Can you sell a purse that looks like a Gucci purse with a different logo and say that this is a Gucci purse knockoff, yes but make sure the logo is different.

Bottom line - Each case is unique ( sounds like a lawyer answer ). A little research can save a lot of legal problems down the line.