Developing the reputation for a brand name is a pain-staking process. Much investment must be made to market the brand and not only to make it recognizable among large number of potential consumers, but also leave the common people with a sense of good will and trust when they see the brand name. But what if the company has no financial resources or the time to go through the process? Why risk having the heavily invested brand falter in the ruthless market?

For quite a few daring companies across the world, the large costs and the risk to marketing a new brand have deterred them from doing so. Instead, they have found a most convenient, less risky way to establish their brand in the market, that is, to imitate the brand name of a famous existing company.

Another one of such cases has been discovered today: well-known California-based supermarket chain Trader Joe’s accused New-York-based newcomer Trader John’s of copyright infringement. An observation shows that not only are the two chains share similar logos (down to the background color and the font), the stores in each chain even have strong resemblances in interior and exterior designs.

Certainly, there are immediate benefits of small firms to copy large establishments in many ways. When the consumers come into contact with the smaller firm, they feel that they are still purchasing from the larger established firm because of the deliberate similarity. So, for the consumers, many of the positive brand features the established firm generated after large investments are automatically assumed to be true for the smaller firm as well. Combining the borrowed brand attributes with other conveniences such as lower prices and better locations, the smaller firm can easily steal many customers of the larger firm. It is no wonder that established firms are extremely sensitive to any signs of copyright infringement.

However, it is also important to note that simply taking from a larger firm will be detrimental to a firm as it expands and become more competitive. By not being able to establish its own character, it faces more direct and symmetric competition from the victim of its plagiarism. At some point, it will have to replace the copied brand name with something unique to truly stand up in the marketplace.