MCoBeauty has built an empire copying premium cosmetics

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Everyone loves a bargain, and the beauty industry thrives on giving consumers what they want including fakes of high-end products.

Transcript

00:00So the dupe here refers to duplicate and when it comes to the cosmetics industry this is

00:07referring to when mass market makeup companies take inspiration from cult cosmetics and then

00:15basically put them out with very similar packaging at much lower prices.

00:20One of the companies here in Australia that's become quite famous for beauty duping is a

00:25Sydney based company called Emco Beauty.

00:28They get so many comments on social media for some of their dupes, here is a beauty

00:34influencer recently talking to me about what she says is their most famous example.

00:40This was the one that people caught on to, so this is the Charlotte Tilbury which is

00:45definitely high end and this is Emco which you can get at Chemist Warehouse.

00:50Literally all my comments, because I did a video on this that went absolutely viral,

00:54every single comment was like who's their lawyers, how are they getting away with this.

00:58So I spoke to both the founder of Emco Beauty and its lawyer who worked very closely on

01:05that dupe of that Charlotte Tilbury illuminating concealer product and Len Mancini, the lawyer,

01:11he sat down with me and basically said well they're not really infringing on any of that

01:16brand's protected assets.

01:18He gave me many examples such as the fact that the three word phrase that's used on

01:23that bottle is protected under trademark but other words like flawless aren't.

01:28They also said that when it comes to different parts of the packaging design they tweaked

01:33things a little bit and they believe that the product, at least legally, is fine.

01:38I also spoke to the founder of Emco Beauty, Shelley Sullivan, about their strategy of

01:44marketing dupe products and here is her talking to me.

01:47I'd say that's probably the main product that's gone, what I would say, close to the line

01:52when it comes to the packaging.

01:55Online I've seen comparisons of the Charlotte Tilbury dupe and some commenters say it just

02:01makes me feel a bit icky, it's too much of a copy.

02:04Don't buy it.

02:05What do you say to them?

02:06Well we're in the business of being completely transparent with our customers.

02:11Shopping in a Sephora or a Mecca versus a Woolworths or a Big W, they're completely different

02:14shopping environments.

02:16They know what $65 buys and they know what ours buys.

02:20So the company has faced legal action several times over duping allegations.

02:26It had both of those examples in 2021.

02:30One of those was by an American company called Tarte which had put out this concealer tube

02:36which was very, very popular at the time and it really didn't like Emco's version of their

02:41concealer which had a very similar pattern on the top lid.

02:47Emco Beauty was also sued by an Australian company called Chemcorp over allegations that

02:52its eyelash dye kit was too similar.

02:56Both of those cases actually settled out of court but Emco Beauty decided to change its

03:01packaging.

03:02I think this all really highlights, and legal experts have said this to me, how fine the

03:07line is with beauty duping.

03:10They say it's actually quite rare to have cases go to court and even rarer for companies

03:15to be able to take on these brands and win.

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