The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) has filed a lawsuit against Perrigo New York, Inc., formerly known as Clay-Park Labs, Inc., a private label manufacturer of beauty products, for trade dress, trademark and patent infringement. Clay-Park Labs makes products for a number of retailers in the United States. The suit was filed today in U.S. Federal Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

The suit claims intellectual property infringement by numerous Clay-Park products which mimic Procter & Gamble's Olay(R) skin care lines, including Olay Age Defying Daily Renewal Cleanser(R) and Olay Age Defying Daily Renewal Cream(R) products. It also claims infringement of Olay's "stylized woman" registered trademark on infringing products. There are four lines of products named in the suit and four separate P&G patents involved. P&G is asking the court to issue a permanent injunction to stop distribution of these products.

"We believe these products have been designed to trade on the goodwill of our brands and on our patented technologies," said Jim Johnson, P&G's Chief Legal Officer. "Consumers suffer when look-alike products create confusion. It's important that consumers looking for our products are confident the products they buy actually originate from P&G and provide the quality and benefits they seek. Therefore, we are asking the court to stop this conduct." Johnson then added, "Our employees devote significant effort to developing new technologies and attractive, consumer relevant, packaging. We simply cannot stand back and watch others trade on their creativity."

About Procter & Gamble

Three billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers(R), Tide(R), Ariel(R), Always(R), Whisper(R), Pantene(R), Mach3(R), Bounty(R), Dawn(R), Pringles(R), Folgers(R), Charmin(R), Downy(R), Lenor(R), Iams(R), Crest(R), Oral-B(R), Actonel(R), Duracell(R), Olay(R), Head & Shoulders(R), Wella, Gillette(R), and Braun. The P&G community consists of almost 140,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide. Please visit pg for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

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