A French fragrance company that alleges a former distributor used its brand name to build an Asian retail empire says Hong Kong law is too lax for it to sue.
Lampe Berger Paris said it had been selling its products to its sole distributor in the region, Digital Crown Holdings HK (DCHL), for a decade.
But the century-old firm discovered last year that annual sales in Asia had fallen from millions of euros to nearly nothing.
Lampe Berger's Hong Kong branch director, John Vullierme, questioned how DCHL would be able to provide Lampe Berger products to its members when it had "almost ordered nothing" from Paris since mid-2011.
He told the South China Morning Post he believed DCHL might have sold products bearing a close resemblance to those of his own company using highly similar names, such as "Lamp Berger France".
He said the company was suing DCHL in France for infringement of intellectual property rights after it continued to use Lampe Berger trademarks and logos in Asia. But he said the company was unable to take legal action in Hong Kong.
This was despite having sent a letter to the Customs and Excise Department last year to demand a crackdown on what he said was DCHL's use of the brand to sell or promote other products.
He said: "The relevant law in Hong Kong is very lax and very liberal and our legal advisers have told me not to pursue a lawsuit. I wish there was an easier legal way to resolve the situation."
Vullierme also said DCHL had sold Lampe Berger products through a multi-level marketing scheme, which is banned in many places including the European Union, Australia and the mainland.
But such a scheme is allowed in Hong Kong as long as it involves the sale of a legitimate product or service.
He added that while DCHL promoted Lampe Berger products on the basis they had "magical effects" on health and beauty, his company made no such claims, other than that its products removed odour.
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