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From: larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Re: Cheap copies of brand-name perfumes
Message-ID: <691@kitty.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 6-Jan-86 08:34:26 EST
Article-I.D.: kitty.691
Posted: Mon Jan  6 08:34:26 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Jan-86 06:37:08 EST
References: <294@pyuxii.UUCP> <4771@alice.UUCP>
Organization: Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, NY
Lines: 29

> > The makers get the formulas from a
> > publication (I can't remember the name).  Anyone can make
> > the stuff, given the right ingredients.  What the makers
> > can't do is package it just like the original.  That's fraud.
> 
> What about the patent laws?  Don't they stop people from making
> copies of perfume formulas?  Or aren't they patented?

	Proprietary chemical FORMULATIONS - which are combinations of existing
chemicals, with perfumes falling in this category - are generally not patented,
and in fact, are generally not patentABLE.  This is as opposed to chemical
syntheses, which result in indentifiable new chemicals.
	Furthermore, even if patenting were readily possible, the general
industry attitude toward proprietary chemical formulations is one of simple
secrecy.  A patent for a proprietary formulation would be difficult to enforce,
and would only tell the competition exactly what is in the product - thereby
providing an opportunity for competition to "work around" the patent.
	A classic [hehe, pun intended] example of the above is the attitude of
Coca Cola in protecting the formulation of their products.
	In addition, complex organic formulations like perfumes are extremely
difficult to analyze chemically in order to ascertain exact composition; the
most effective formula protection is still secrecy.

==>  Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York        <==
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