Reputation parasitism, reputation leeching or credibility leeching is a legal term regarding
marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
. It refers to when one advertiser uses another
brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create ...
's good reputation to market his own product. The legal concept of reputation parasitism originates in the
Nordic nations.
In many places it is illegal to do so. For instance in
Sweden it is outlawed according to ''Marknadsföringslagen'' ("
Swedish Marketing Act") (1995:450).
The
Finnish Market Court expanded its interpretation of the Unfair Business Practices Act to treat reputation parasitism as an enforceable violation of fair business practices, bringing Finnish law more closely in line with Swedish law.
Examples of reputation parasitism include having a product in a design that is very similar to an existing product or using a similar name. The concept of reputation parasitism has also been applied to
counterfeit consumer goods, which can also leech off of and damage the reputation of established brands.
See also
*
Zombie trademark
References
Trademark law
{{Trademark law