Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Lathering Up

Two affiliated branches of the Lever soap company sued the US for failing to prevent the soap made in the UK from getting into the US. Apparently the soap was made slightly differently in the UK as it was in the US: the UK brand didn't lather as well.
The court explained:

"The manufacturing choice evidently arises in part out of the British preference for baths, which permit time for lather to develop, as opposed to a US preference for showers."

Lever Bros. Co. v. U.S., 877 F2d 101 (1989).

Is that true??

2 comments:

Lawyerlike said...

As a Canadian I can say this: although the Queen may still be our head of state, we're with you on the showers.

Dave said...

There may well be a difference between Americans and Brits when it comes to hygiene. But I doubt it has anything to do with why this soap is different. I think this line of cases eventually resulted in a 1993 decision (Lever v. U.S. 981 F.2d 1330) that held that gray market goods that are physically different than those sold in the U.S. are excludable at the border under section 42 of the Lanham Act.