Luxury perfumes fighting losing battle against 'dupe' copycat scents, say lawyers

Call for greater legal protection as market for cheap imitations booms among TikTok users

- Donna Ferguson

One perfume smells suspiciously like a £355 bottle of Baccarat Rouge 540 eau de parfum. Another, which has notes of grapefruit, rose and Levantine spice, is reminiscent of a £215 bottle of Penhaligon's Halfeti. But unlike those luxury brands, these "dupe scents" can cost as little as a fiver.

As many as half of UK consumers are now thought to have succumbed to the social media craze for cheap perfumes "inspired by" well-known luxury fragrances. And lawyers now say perfume brands and beauty companies need greater legal protection from rivals who imitate their products.

Intellectual property lawyers and chartered trademark attorneys told the Observer that the law must catch up to better protect the original creators of perfumes. Some said they had been contacted by companies seeking advice on how to legally dupe a perfume, while others had received enquiries from luxury brands about how to take legal action against dupe scents.

"Everybody wants to smell good and to have an affordable slice of luxury. However, it comes at the expense of proper artists, because perfume creation is an art," Mireille Dagger, legal director at Broadfield law firm, told the Observer. "These companies are riding on the coattails of artists. It's very unfair. It’s very hard to create a perfume brand and build it up. It requires expertise, artistic talent, time, energy and investment."