Green Washing Vis-A-Vis Green Trade Marks
Introduction
Environmentalism and sustainability are concepts that are undergoing much discussion in the contemporary world. More people are committed towards an imperishable lifestyle as a result of the ongoing and impending repercussions of heedless human exploitation of our ecosystem. This has led to consumers opting for brands that pledge their duty to contributing towards environmental protection by means of minimalism and sustainability. This attitude has however been counterproductive in the sense that the very exploitative industry we are trying to avoid is cashing on this shift of consumer preference by feigning ecocentrism and environmental concern. In today’s era of eco-branding, wherein trademarks are used to distinguish sustainable brands from the mainstream commercial ones, the latter engage in the practise of “greenwashing”. The term refers to the usage of aspects of environmental protection in their trademarks and logos, overstating their commitment towards the cause, as a means of deceiving people into purchasing their products and services. It is however, not to mean that there aren’t brands that truly uphold these values. There is a very fine line between green branding or eco-branding and green washing. This blog intends to explore this fine line as well as means to navigate this issue at hand to properly protect and encourage environmentalism and prevent these business giants from misusing trademarks to foster consumer trust.
Green Trade Marks Or Eco Marks
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPR) was the first to conduct studies in the subject of “green trademarks” or ‘eco-marks’. The hypothesis for the study was whether, if the applications for registration of goods contained “green signs” applied to them, they were indicators of the brand being driven by the ideas of sustainability or environmental consciousness. The hypothesis was confirmed, hence popularising the concept of eco-marks among the business giants.
Eco-Friendliness And The Advent Of Green Marks
Eco-friendly could suggest an array of facets ranging from the products being recyclable or reusable to the method in which they are sourced or produced. Another pertinent aspect is the effect of its disposal to the environment. For example, social media has been widely discussing the impact of micro-plastics on the environment and contemplating methods to reduce its release. The preliminary objective of ‘eco-friendly’ is indeed to reverse the detrimental effects on the environment caused by the actions of humanity.
[Image Sources : Shutter stock]
The concept of eco-friendly has been incorporated into various facets of our lives. One such instance is the advent of green trademarks or eco-marks. Apart from the growing interest of the consumers towards environmentally conscious purchases, various governments all over the world are offering incentives to companies that promote the ideology through their products and services to prioritize environmental protection.
Green trademarks are typically used to discern products or services that uphold the values of environmental consciousness out of the already existing trademarks in the market, hence facilitating the consumers to make what feel like right purchase decisions by providing them with relevant information on the environmental impact of the product or the service. Trademarks like Mama Earth, Earth Choice, Biotique are some examples of the said inclusion of the ‘green’ concept to trademarks. Another one is the clothing brand for women, Eileen Fisher, which has been able to build for itself a loyal base of customers through the sustainable practice of taking back their used clothing to recycle them into new ones. However, there has been an evident surge of these marks in the recent times which leads us to question the real and immediate reason for their popularization.
Eco Centricity Through Trade Marks: A Misleading Tactic Or Not?
As environmentalism has become more mainstream, it is not beyond our understanding how companies could cash on this opportunity by seemingly becoming more environment-friendly. We are now witnessing the era of ‘Greenwashing’ where every other emerging business entity puts out claims on their sustainable practices by using vague terms like ‘eco’, ‘green’ etc in their marketing. The objective is to mislead the consumers knowing well the marketability of this concept. One of the early high-profile incidents of greenwashing is the infamous ‘Dieselgate’ of 2009 in which Volkswagen launched “clean diesel” cars just by installing a software to evade emission tests, which was later busted by the United States, Environmental Protection Agency.
However, these practices have surprisingly been existing in smaller levels even before the 2000s when in fact the term in itself was coined in 1986 by a then student and environmentalist Jay Westerveld. Today, greenwashing has taken over green trademarks as well, for their ability to attract consumer attention and avail government granted incentives.
Consumers have become quitecautious because the harms posed by greenwashing not only leads to the consumption of products and services that are not in fact very eco-friendly, but also cause a sense of distrust among the consumers which may lead them to overlook the brands that are true to their commitment towards the ecosystem. Marketers are becoming ever more creative in finding methods to come up with trademarks that are highly suggestive but not descriptive of their impact on environmental protection and also secure trademark protection for the same.
Thus, the question arises as to how to navigate this fine line between green branding and green washing also prevent the thoughtless commercialisation of ecological concerns. One way to deal with it is definitely to bring a class action against such entities either by their competitors, because of the competitive advantage they lose as a result of a misleading claim. A class action could also be initiated by the consumers themselves as a whole, being victims of false advertising. It is imperative for every system to establish regulatory agencies in order to assess the environmental impact of the actions of business organisations that seek the registration of an eco-mark. It is necessary that the business entities realise that they cannot get away with overstating the environmental benefits of their products and simply adding an element of environmentalism to their trademark and deceiving people with genuine ecological concerns. It is not always possible for buyers to take caution in ensuring that the sellers are actually true to their claim, nor should it be their duty. Instead, stricter regulations should be imposed against the registration of these marks and also bring in provisions for revocation of the marks that are exceedingly deceptive. Companies that are genuinely motivated by ecological concerns should try to attain certification marks so as to secure their positions in the market and take the consumers into confidence.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is only safe to state that legislations around the world are yet to properly delve into the regime of green washing in the market and its apparent impact on trademarks. It is in fact of pressing priority as the relevance of eco-marks are not going to go away anytime soon for the future of the world would appear bleak in the absence of environmental protection, an area which already suffers due to lack of steady progress.
Author: Sruthy Jayakumar, A Student at School of Legal Studies Cochin University of Science and Technology, in case of any queries please contact/write back to us at support@ipandlegalfilings.com or IP & Legal Filing
References:
- https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2022/04/article_0006.html#:~:text=These%20include%20adopting%20brand%20names,fonts%20and%20text%3B%20and%20making
- https://intellectual-property-helpdesk.ec.europa.eu/news-events/news/green-trade-marks-2023-07-07_en
- chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://euipo.europa.eu/tunnel-web/secure/webdav/guest/document_library/observatory/documents/reports/2021_Green_EU_trade_marks/2021_Green_EU_trade_marks_FullR_en.pdf
https://www.smartbiggar.ca/insights/publication/a-fine-line-green-branding-or-greenwashing
