“Firstly, the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965, the law related to trademark protection and enforcement, is years old and does not cover the current scenario. 'Cases of trademark infringement are increasing in the country mainly for two reasons-weak laws and weak enforcement of the laws.” “Compared to three years ago, the number of trademark infringement cases has increased by more than 50 percent,” said Janak Bhandari, advocate at Global Law Associates. The company said several companies were producing Coca-Cola look-alike products, and urged consumers to stay alert and check for the brand’s original logos (Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta) before buying and consuming them. “We have come across many consumers who have shared their experience of being deceived when they were given a very similar looking bottle instead of the original Coke, Fanta or Sprite which they had asked for,” said Bottlers Nepal, a multinational company in Nepal that produces Coca-Cola, Coke Zero, Sprite, Fanta and Kinley. Such deceptive and misleading practices not only result in customers being cheated in terms of quality and price, but the manufacturer of the original product also loses sales, according to them.Įxperts say there has been a rise in counterfeit products in the market due to the weakness of law enforcement agencies in the country. Like Chudal and Shrestha, many Nepali consumers are being duped into buying similar looking products.Īnd this is because of weak laws, say industry insiders. 'I checked the packet properly, and there was no expiry date on it,” said Shrestha from New Baneshwar. But when I was about to open the packet, I saw that it was not Center Fruit it was called Center Fillz,' she said. “I was in a hurry and did not look at the packet properly because it was the same colour. 'Even the price was the same,' said the amazed 49-year-old resident from Mahalaxmisthan, Lalitpur.Ĭollege student Ruvi Shrestha had bought some chewing gum from the neighbourhood grocery, thinking it was her favourite brand Center Fruit. But my daughter told me that the cold drink was actually named Maintan Dew, which was manufactured in Jhapa,” said Chudal. “I checked the bottle, and it looked just like the Mountain Dew I used to buy before even the lettering was designed exactly like it. When she got home and was about to open the bottle, her daughter stopped her, shouting that she had the wrong brand. The sun was shining fiercely on Monday afternoon, and Devi Chudal went down to the corner grocery store to buy a bottle of Mountain Dew to cool off.

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