Perfumes, IP And Dupes: Protecting Scent, Eliminating Odour

Of all our senses, smell is the most powerful when it comes to memory and emotion. A familiar scent—like rain on dry earth or a loved one's perfume - can bring back forgotten moments with surprising clarity. Since smells shape how we remember, react, and connect – they can also serve as a powerful connector to a product or service. For example, the signature smell of Play-Doh modelling compound - a scent of a sweet, slightly musky, vanilla fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, combined with the smell of a salted, wheat-based dough - is registered by toymaker Hasbro as a scent mark in the United States and helps differentiate its products from competitors.

But if the product itself is a perfume, can its distinctive smell serve as a trademark? Obtaining monopoly rights over a fragrance is rather complex – an issue this article serves to highlight.