Cosmoprof North America Features Challenging CBD, Natural and Organic Product Lines

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Cosmoprof North America Features Challenging CBD, Natural and Organic Product Lines

On July 29 and 30, 2018, Conkle, Kremer & Engel continued its annual firm attendance at Cosmoprof North America in Las Vegas, visiting with longtime and new clients and observing new brands and trends in the personal care industry.  This year’s edition of Cosmoprof had over 36,000 attendees with a record-breaking 1,278 exhibitors from 45 countries.  CK&E attorneys attend to connect with clients and others in the cosmetics, personal care, packaging, labeling and professional beauty markets, to help clients secure distribution agreements, and to learn about the newest industry innovations and issues.

This year, trends included substantial expansion of the mens’ care and beard care sector, along with CBD-infused cosmetics and hair care products and natural and organic hair regrowth formulas.  Organic products sold in California must meet strict requirements, and Products with “natural” claims can present special challenges and risks, as CK&E has addressed in previous blog posts, such as “What are Natural Products Anyway?”  A new twist has been recent growth (no pun) in “hair regrowth” products labeled as “natural” or “organic” .  Those classes of products face special issues in addition to whether they can fairly be called “natural” or “organic,” in that hair regrowth claims can at times run afoul of federal prohibitions on products that make drug-like claims without FDA approval, as well as federal and state labeling and advertising regulations.  Finally, a new class of beauty and hair care products are based on Cannabidiol (CBD) content, taking advantage of increased acceptance of cannabis-based products.  Yet CBD products continue to pose their own special issues, which will be the subject of an upcoming www.conklelaw.com blog post.  CK&E is well-versed in counseling clients on all such issues, from brand protection, vendor and distribution issues to the latest CBD, natural and organic product concerns.

Lastly, foremost on the minds of many manufacturers and distributors who sell in California were the new requirements for Proposition 65, the well-known California law requiring “Prop 65” warnings for products which contain chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm.  New warning label requirements go into effect on August 30, 2018, which CK&E has already summarized on its blog.  CK&E is actively advising manufacturers about the most efficient and effective ways to address the changes and avoid the risks of inadvertent violations.

CK&E’s attorneys continue to pride themselves on keeping abreast of developments in the personal care market, along with assisting clients of all sizes with growth and protection of their brands and interests.  CK&E is an active member of the Professional Beauty Association, the Personal Care Products Council, and other important industry trade organizations.

 

7
AUG
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Advertising and Labeling, Beauty Industry, Brand Protection, California Organic Products Act, California Trade Regulations, Copyrights, Manufacturing, Personal Care Products, Proposition 65, Trademarks

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Women Make Their Presence Known at Natural Products Expo West

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Women Make Their Presence Known at Natural Products Expo West

Conkle, Kremer & Engel attorneys Heather Laird and Desiree Ho attended the Natural Products Expo West in March 2018, where they encountered product trends emphasizing simple recognizable ingredient formulations, and business trends emphasizing strong women’s influences in ownership and management.  Demonstrating the growing consumer interest in natural and organic products, attendance at this year’s Expo was reported to be the largest ever, exceeding 85,000 visitors to more than 3,500 exhibitors.  CK&E attorneys visited clients’ exhibit booths and met with entrepreneurs in the beauty, food, and beverage industries to help them strengthen their brands, navigate regulatory and labeling issues, and grow their business.

Exhibitors showed strong cross-cultural influences, with many products and flavors from around the world, all emphasizing the trend toward fewer and more recognizable ingredients in simple formulations.  Businesses clearly demonstrated they are responding and catering to the adventurous interests and palates of health-conscious, worldly, and informed consumers.  Countless product lines were customized for consumers committed to paleo, vegan, and gluten-free diets.  Another popular trend is toward products and businesses that are dedicated to championing charitable causes, so consumers can use their purchases to support causes they are passionate about and can feel loyal to brands that are as committed as they are.

Mirroring recent cultural trends, women-owned and managed businesses were very notable throughout the Expo.  Many entrepreneurs proudly advertised their Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) certifications.  The WBENC certification “validates that the business is 51 percent owned, controlled, operated, and managed by a woman or women.”

In the beauty arena, there were a refreshing number of brands actively encouraging women to maintain an open dialogue with the product manufacturer to address issues they regularly face.  The trend of businesses expending great effort to establish dialogue and long-term relationships with their consumers through social media and direct contacts has become clear.  These overlapping trends resulted in prominent presentation of many products “made for women, by women,” ranging from beautifully packaged feminine hygiene products to natural pre-natal and post-natal products promoted as safe for use by pregnant women and around infants.

CK&E attorneys provide full service to businesses in the beauty, food, and beverage industries.  They regularly attend important trade shows to help their clients stay abreast of trends, new regulations, and developments in the law and the marketplace affecting these industries.

 

16
MAR
0

Beauty Industry, Brand Protection, Food, Craft Beer and Nutrition, Industries Represented, Intellectual Property, Personal Care Products, Regulatory Compliance

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The Conkle Firm Trending At Indie Beauty Expo

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The Conkle Firm Trending At Indie Beauty Expo

Conkle, Kremer & Engel attorneys Amanda Washton and Desiree Ho attended the Indie Beauty Expo in Los Angeles to take note of emerging trends in the beauty industry.  More than 100 brands exhibited their products at  this event, many of which recognized a key trend in the beauty market – consumers are becoming increasingly attentive to what is in their products and where their money is going.  Countless brands touted business practices such as sharing profits with charitable causes, as well as product features like “vegan,” “natural,” and “organic.”  The simpler the ingredient list, the better.  The product packaging and displays reflected this gravitation towards simplicity – minimalist typography, clean lines in the artwork, and monochromatic color schemes.

As more companies hop onboard the “organic” and “natural” train, beauty brands should be careful about their advertising and labeling to avoid drawing adverse attention of regulators and others policing the market.  Conkle, Kremer & Engel has published multiple blog posts throughout the years concerning “natural” and “organic” product claims.  Selling “natural” products in California can be particularly hazardous without the right guidance – “natural” ingredients may be subject to Proposition 65, as CK&E has explained in the past.  Manufacturers would do well to remember that the California Supreme Court has warned, particularly in claims of organic contents, “labels matter.”

With decades of beauty industry experience helping companies grow and protect their businesses, CK&E attorneys routinely guide clients through the process of complying with Proposition 65 and other complex regulatory schemes.

30
JAN
0

Advertising and Labeling, Beauty Industry, Brand Protection, California Organic Products Act, Intellectual Property, Personal Care Products, Proposition 65, Regulatory Compliance

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Labels Matter: Consumer Class Actions are Available for Organic Labeling Violations

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Labels Matter: Consumer Class Actions are Available for Organic Labeling Violations

The California Supreme Court has affirmed that “labels matter” to both buyers and sellers of consumer products. “They serve as markers for a host of tangible and intangible qualities consumers may come to associate with a particular source or method of production.” California protects consumers from mislabeling through a number of laws, including possible class action lawsuits under the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (Civil Code §§ 1750 et seq.), unfair competition laws (Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17200 et seq.) and false advertising laws (Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17500 et seq.)

Aside from California’s general false labeling laws, there are specific laws and regulations regarding organic product labeling. The California Organic Products Act (COPA), generally requires that multi-ingredient cosmetics labeled or sold as organic contain at least 70% organically produced ingredients. But COPA is designed to work in concert with Federal regulations that direct baseline standards for production, labeling and sale of organic products. The California Supreme Court recently addressed whether the Federal regulations of organic products in some manner preempt or supersede California’s consumer protection laws, so that only the very limited Federal remedies can be pursued when there are alleged violations of organic labeling laws.

In Quesada v. Herb Thyme Farms, Inc., the California Supreme Court determined that California’s general laws prohibiting labeling misrepresentation do not conflict with the Federal laws concerning organic production, labeling and sale, but rather complement those Federal laws by allowing additional remedies to be pursued when those laws are broken by fraudulent organic product labeling. The Supreme Court observed that “permitting state consumer fraud actions would advance, not impair” the goals of providing “a level playing field” to manufacturers of organic products and “enhance consumer confidence in meaningful labels and reduce the distribution network’s reluctance to carry organic products.” From this perspective, where products are fraudulently mislabeled as organic, “the prosecution of such fraud, whether by public prosecutors where resources and state laws permit, or through civil suits by individuals or groups of consumers, can only serve to deter mislabeling and enhance consumer confidence.”

The result for manufacturers, distributors and resellers is that organic product labeling can create concerns at multiple levels, including federal and state regulatory liability, and class actions under strong state consumer protection laws. All those involved in the chain of manufacturing and distribution of products labeled as organic should consult with experienced counsel to protect themselves from potential adverse outcomes that can come from several directions. Conkle, Kremer & Engel attorneys are well versed in helping their clients proactively avoid and resolve such problems.

26
DEC
0

Advertising and Labeling, Beauty Industry, California Organic Products Act, California Trade Regulations, Consumer Legal Remedies Act, Food, Craft Beer and Nutrition, Manufacturing, Regulatory Compliance, Sales, Unfair Competition

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Organic products? Really?

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Organic products? Really?

Are your personal care products really organic? There is no federal regulation of cosmetics sold as “organic,” other than a voluntary USDA certification process, but California takes use of the term “organic” seriously.

The California Organic Products Act (COPA), requires that multi-ingredient cosmetics labeled or sold as organic contain at least 70% organically produced ingredients.  The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) sued 40 cosmetics manufacturers in 2011 and 2012 in Alameda County for violating COPA. One of the defendants in CEH’s first lawsuit was Todd Christopher International, dba Vogue International, (Vogue) the manufacturer of Organix brand products.  While the Organix products contained less than 10% organic ingredients, Vogue contended that the “active” ingredients in its products were organic.  Vogue argued that COPA did not apply to its Organix hair care products because hair care products are not “cosmetics” and that “Organix” is not a grammatical variation of the term “organic.”  The court rejected Vogue’s arguments.  In September 2012, Vogue agreed to either change its packaging and stop using “Organix,” or change the ingredients of its products to comply with COPA.

CEH then brought another lawsuit against Vogue.   This time, it was a class action aimed at stopping Vogue’s use of “Organix” nationwide – not just in California.  CEH claimed that Vogue’s labeling is unfair and deceptive under each state’s consumer protection laws because Vogue’s Organix products are not composed of predominately organic ingredients.  In October 2013, the federal court for the Northern District of California preliminarily approved a settlement of the class action in which Vogue would pay $6.5 million and stop using “Organix” for cosmetics that did not contain at least 70% organic ingredients.  The final approval hearing is set for April 3, 2014.  Vogue has already begun to transition its packaging and advertising to the more defensible “Ogx”.

Conkle, Kremer & Engel stays current on federal and state regulatory issues and helps its clients avoid the kind of labeling problem that befell Vogue.

10
FEB
0

Advertising and Labeling, Beauty Industry, California Organic Products Act, California Trade Regulations, Class Actions, Fashion, Food, Craft Beer and Nutrition, Manufacturing, Personal Care Products, Sales, Unfair Competition

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