Legal Problems Related to Protecting Consumers from Unfair Trading Practices: Lookalike Product Packaging (Copycat)

Abstract

Some business operators use lookalike product packaging to entice consumers to purchase their product. This lookalike packaging contains false information that confuses consumers and leads them to make an erroneous purchase because they are misled to believe that the false product is made by the same manufacturer as the genuine one. Moreover, this practice also affects the competition in the market. Since the results of this study indicate that Thai law does not contain any obvious legal measure to control lookalike product packaging, it will be suggested that a legal measure should added to the Thailand Consumer Protection Act B.E. 2522 to address this omission and the legal measures related to consumers’ rights to redress under the Thailand Consumer Case Procedure Act B.E. 2551 should also be improved.