Deliveroo fights the impersonator

Common sounding brand names can often be confusing. Sometimes, the matching of the name is coincidental while many a times it is intentional. There are often times when rival companies are purged down using this, as an instrument of competitive advantage as well.

The markets of London went abuzz, when Deliveroo filed a case against Dispenseroo. 

Deliveroo

Deliveroo is a British food and grocery delivery service. The company has its operations in Europe, Middle East and Asia. It is a popular service that recently completed over 160 million deliveries, in just six months in 2022! 

However, recently the company had been facing a unique situation. An entity that went by the name Deliveroo, had been selling and distributing weed. Weed is illegal in the UK, barring a few ‘exceptional’ medical cases. It had its advertisement in the Tube and even appeared on a mall’s billboard.

The impersonator

In all of their pamphlets on metros, they were using Deliveroo’s mark. They used to deliver different marijuana related products, that included eatables and drinks via post. It also has a domain name registered with them as Dispenseroo.com.

In fact, it raked £50,000 in just a week. This, when weed is still illegal in the UK. However amid price cuts, the Police had announced that catching weed won’t be a priority anymore. The police would be focusing their energy on more important and serious issues.

This does seem like a dialling down of the police’s heavy crackdown on weed. However, it is still illegal to possess, grow or distribute weed. This clearly deems the entity Dispenseroo, illegal.

Aftermath

Deliveroo has also filed a case against Dispenseroo for violating its trademark rights. The domain name used by Dispenseroo is also under contention. People at Dispenseroo have been told that they would have to let go of the domain name.

People at Deliveroo have clearly stated that they would not use the domain name for selling weed. However, not everything is well with Deliveroo as well.

Although the company marked a huge milestone in deliveries, it was still in loss. The company had to discontinue their services in Australia as there was too much competition.

The company is thus trying to strengthen its key prominent markets. The UK is at the core of it which even has its primary domain name as Deliveroo.co.uk. Hence, it’s quite obvious on their part to crack down heavily against any brand infringement.