{"id":6059,"date":"2023-05-03T12:01:43","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T00:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/?p=6059"},"modified":"2023-05-03T12:11:17","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T00:11:17","slug":"tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Tupperware\u00ae – a tale of two (IP) issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

First published in Bay of Plenty Business News May 2023 edition<\/strong><\/p>\n

In early April, news broke1<\/sup> that Tupperware\u00ae, the well known US-based food storage brand, is in serious trouble.<\/p>\n

With rising debts and falling sales, Tupperware warned that it could go bust unless it can quickly raise new financing.2<\/sup><\/p>\n

Tupperware seemingly finds itself in this predicament as a result of a failure to innovate, both in product design and distribution methods, and despite attempts to freshen up its products in recent years and reposition itself to a younger audience.3<\/sup> As one expert reportedly4<\/sup> commented, Tupperware – while considered innovative many years ago – was perhaps not as inventive and stylish as other (kitchenware) brands such as Joseph Joseph.5 <\/sup><\/p>\n

Add to its innovation woes the arguable fact that \u2018Tupperware\u2019 the brand name has become a common name in general public use (in trade mark speak, \u2018generic\u2019) for food storage containers, and Tupperware (the company) faces a task of Herculean proportions to survive, let alone once again prosper.<\/p>\n

Tupperware\u2019s problems highlight the need for all businesses to \u2018stay relevant\u2019: that is, continually innovate in product and\/or service design and delivery to meet the needs and wants of consumers. As Peter Drucker6<\/sup> once declared, businesses must \u201cinnovate or die\u201d. In more common parlance, \u201cstay ahead of the pace of change or you\u2019re toast\u201d. In saying this, it is important to note that innovation doesn\u2019t have to come with a huge price tag: innovation can be small and cheap \u2013 it might be a small change in how you do something, or a slight shift in how you communicate what you do. Big or small, opportunities for innovation are everywhere\u00a0 \u2013 you just have to be open to them.<\/p>\n

Tupperware\u2019s problems also highlight the need for brand owners to protect their brand name from becoming \u2018generic\u2019\u2013 as \u2018Escalator\u2019 and \u2018Aspirin\u2019, for example, did and \u2018Sellotape\u2019 and \u2018Jandals\u2019 arguably have (at least in New Zealand). Stopping a trade mark from becoming generic in New Zealand requires a fine balance of promotion and policing (as Tasman Insulation, the maker of \u2018Pink Batts\u2019 insulation, found out in the course of litigation between 2012 and 20158<\/sup>). Promote the name too much in a manner which makes consumers perceive it as noun, or fail to stop people from using the name as a noun, and brand owners could find themselves in Tupperware\u2019s shoes or, worse, facing a claim to de-register their trade mark.<\/p>\n

It will be a huge pity if the lid on Tupperware\u2019s future is firmly sealed shut in the next few months. I, for one, hope the brand can be saved \u2013 all it needs (apart from a shed load of money) is the right kind of love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/business-65237293<\/a> \u201cTupperware warns of collapse unless it finds funds\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/business-65243711<\/a> \u201cTupperware: Why the household name could soon be history\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. As fn 2 above<\/li>\n
  4. Neil Saunders, managing director of retail at the consultancy GlobalData, see fn 2 above<\/li>\n
  5. https:\/\/www.josephjoseph.com\/<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Peter Drucker was an influential Austrian-American author, mentor and consultant who is considered the father of modern business management: https:\/\/www.businessnewsdaily.com\/10634-peter-drucker-management-theory.html<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. https:\/\/hbr.org\/2014\/12\/innovation-on-the-fly#<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. See Tasman Insulation New Zealand Limited v\u00a0Knauf Insulation\u00a0Limited<\/em> [2014] NZHC 960 and Tasman Insulation New Zealand Ltd v\u00a0Knauf Insulation\u00a0Ltd<\/em> [2015] NZCA 602<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    First published in Bay of Plenty Business News May 2023 edition In early April, news broke1 that Tupperware\u00ae, the well known US-based food storage brand, is in serious trouble. With rising debts and falling sales, Tupperware warned that it could go bust unless it can quickly raise new financing.2 Tupperware seemingly finds itself in this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"class_list":["post-6059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trade-marks","insight-resource-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTupperware\u00ae - a tale of two (IP) issues - James & Wells<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tupperware\u00ae - a tale of two (IP) issues - James & Wells\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First published in Bay of Plenty Business News May 2023 edition In early April, news broke1 that Tupperware\u00ae, the well known US-based food storage brand, is in serious trouble. With rising debts and falling sales, Tupperware warned that it could go bust unless it can quickly raise new financing.2 Tupperware seemingly finds itself in this...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James & Wells\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-03T00:01:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-03T00:11:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tuppaware.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"610\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Mertens\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Mertens\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jennifer Mertens\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/#\/schema\/person\/64e4a40a49fe981aaa979bfd660eb636\"},\"headline\":\"Tupperware\u00ae – a tale of two (IP) issues\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-03T00:01:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-03T00:11:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/\"},\"wordCount\":561,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tuppaware.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Trade marks\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/\",\"name\":\"Tupperware\u00ae - a tale of two (IP) issues - James & Wells\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tuppaware.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-03T00:01:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-03T00:11:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/#\/schema\/person\/64e4a40a49fe981aaa979bfd660eb636\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tuppaware.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tuppaware.png\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":610},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tupperware\u00ae – a tale of two (IP) issues\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/\",\"name\":\"James & Wells\",\"description\":\"Excellence in IP\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/#\/schema\/person\/64e4a40a49fe981aaa979bfd660eb636\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Mertens\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tupperware\u00ae - a tale of two (IP) issues - James & Wells","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tupperware\u00ae - a tale of two (IP) issues - James & Wells","og_description":"First published in Bay of Plenty Business News May 2023 edition In early April, news broke1 that Tupperware\u00ae, the well known US-based food storage brand, is in serious trouble. With rising debts and falling sales, Tupperware warned that it could go bust unless it can quickly raise new financing.2 Tupperware seemingly finds itself in this...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/","og_site_name":"James & Wells","article_published_time":"2023-05-03T00:01:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-03T00:11:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":610,"url":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tuppaware.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jennifer Mertens","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jennifer Mertens","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/"},"author":{"name":"Jennifer Mertens","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/#\/schema\/person\/64e4a40a49fe981aaa979bfd660eb636"},"headline":"Tupperware\u00ae – a tale of two (IP) issues","datePublished":"2023-05-03T00:01:43+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-03T00:11:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/"},"wordCount":561,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tuppaware.png","articleSection":["Trade marks"],"inLanguage":"en-NZ"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/","url":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/","name":"Tupperware\u00ae - a tale of two (IP) issues - James & Wells","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tuppaware.png","datePublished":"2023-05-03T00:01:43+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-03T00:11:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/#\/schema\/person\/64e4a40a49fe981aaa979bfd660eb636"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-NZ","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-NZ","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tuppaware.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tuppaware.png","width":1024,"height":610},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/tupperware-a-tale-of-two-ip-issues\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tupperware\u00ae – a tale of two (IP) issues"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/","name":"James & Wells","description":"Excellence in IP","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-NZ"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/#\/schema\/person\/64e4a40a49fe981aaa979bfd660eb636","name":"Jennifer Mertens"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6059"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6080,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6059\/revisions\/6080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}