Perfume

===Copyright===
[[File:Fakeperfumes.jpg|right|thumb|An assorti of [[counterfeit]] perfumes (in a "kiosk" store)]]
It is doubtful whether perfumes qualify as appropriate copyright subject matter under the US [[Copyright Act of 1976|Copyright Act]]. The issue has not yet been addressed by any US court. A perfume's scent is not eligible for [[trademark]] protection: the scent serves as the functional purpose of the product.<ref name="cp">{{citation | author=David A. Einhorn | author2=Lesley Portnoy | title=The Copyrightability of Perfumes: I Smell a Symphony | journal=Intellectual Property Today | date=April 2010 | url=http://www.iptoday.com/issues/2010/04/the-copyrightability-perfumes-i-smell-symphony.asp | access-date=9 March 2014 | archive-date=10 March 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310002503/http://www.iptoday.com/issues/2010/04/the-copyrightability-perfumes-i-smell-symphony.asp | url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2006 the [[Dutch Supreme Court]] granted copyright protection to [[Lancôme]]'s perfume ''Tresor'' (''Lancôme v. Kecofa''). 

The [[French Supreme Court]] has twice taken the position that perfumes lack the creativity to constitute copyrightable expressions (''Bsiri-Barbir v. Haarman & Reimer'', 2006; ''Beaute Prestige International v. Senteur Mazal'', 2008).<ref name="cp" />

Sometimes, a knock-off perfume would use an altered name of the original perfume (for instance, now-discontinued ''Freya'' by [[Oriflame]] perfume has a similar-designed copy produced as "''Fre'''yy'''a''").

It is still questionable if perfume's "functional purpose" can be protected with technical patent (one which lasts 15 years). Apparently,{{According to whom|date=October 2020}} Russian "Novaya Zarya" labels their colognes as "hygienic lotions" for a similar reason. A counterexample: NovZar's more-than-century-old [[Chypre#Pre-1917_chypres|''Shipr'' chypre]] and Troinoi cologne are being produced by other companies in Russia in similar bottles.

====Numbered perfumery, "analogs"====
A different kind of copying perfumes is known in ex-USSR countries as "''номерная парфюмерия''" (literally "numbered perfumery"): 

A "number-making" company with perfumery equipment would use their own, one-style-for-all cheap bottle; ''de jure'' labeling a knock-off perfume as an "aroma in the direction of [the well-known perfume]" or a "version" of certain branded perfume. This way, the production costs of initially cheap scents are reduced, since the bottle is used neither for plain counterfeiting nor for subtle re-designing.

The questionable part of numbered perfumery naming is the idea to openly mark perfume #XXX (say, #105) as either "type" or "version", or "''аромат направления''" (literally "aroma in the direction of") of a well-known perfum.<ref>One example being ''[[Fidji]]'' by ''[[Guy Laroche]]'' — this particular example can be found on [https://www.reni.su/product-category/zhenskiy/ Reni.su] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615081453/https://www.reni.su/product-category/zhenskiy/ |date=15 June 2020 }}.</ref>
* Resellers in offline stores (in malls, airport shops) can offer "fillable" perfumery, sometimes using [[weasel word]]ing to justify the price.
* Such perfumes usually get three-digit numbers as an officially registered name, which is stickered to the bottles.
* When it comes to propellant, a "number" usually has an alcohol base [almost] without stabilization (which may give strong "alcohol base stench", altering perfume's scent into the "smell of cheapness" phenomenon).
** To avoid this, many "numbers" can be made with (di)propylenglicol base and come as "perfume oil(s)". PG or DPG based numbered perfumery comes in 50ml plastic bottles and is purposed for tiny rollers; (D)PG is not usable in spray bottles (while not affected by the "smell of cheapness" issue nonetheless). Some companies offer all of their own "numbers" in both alcohol based and (D)PG based variants.

In small online "bulk", however (in purchases over 5000RUB), a whole 100ml bottle of such perfume (or 50ml bottle of "scent oil" of same "direction") costs only around 6 EUR.