Trade Mark Insights

The Lawful-ish Dupe: What Your Brand Can Do as AI Makes Copying Easier

Trade Marks · Brand Protection · 24 August 2026 · 6 minute read

Dupe culture has moved from a niche shopping trend to a mainstream retail strategy, and AI design tools are only making it faster to pull off. If a competitor can generate near identical packaging, logos and ad creative in an afternoon, what is actually left to protect your brand, and does the law even help?

What is a "lawful-ish" dupe?

A dupe is a product designed to remind a shopper of a more expensive or more established brand, without copying it so closely that it is clearly the same product. The word "lawful-ish" has started doing the rounds in Australian legal commentary because so many dupes sit in a genuine grey area: close enough to trade on another brand's reputation, but different enough that a straightforward infringement claim is hard to make out.

Shoppers increasingly know exactly what they are buying. They are not confused about origin, they are choosing a cheaper alternative on purpose. That single fact changes the legal picture more than most brand owners expect.

Why passing off and the ACL often are not enough

Two of the tools brand owners reach for first, the tort of passing off and section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law, are both built to catch deception. They ask whether consumers are likely to be misled about who makes a product or whether it is officially connected to another brand.

Where a customer knows perfectly well they are buying a cheaper look-alike, there is no deception to point to, and both of these claims lose most of their force.

The vibe problem

Australian law also does not recognise a stand-alone right in a product's general "vibe", look and feel, or market position. You cannot own a colour palette, a silhouette, or a general aesthetic in the abstract. What you can own, and enforce, is much more specific: a registered trade mark, distinctive packaging that has become genuinely recognisable as yours, or copyright in original artwork that someone has actually copied.

AI has changed the maths

Generative design and image tools mean a copycat no longer needs a design team, a photographer, or weeks of production time to produce packaging, logos and social ad creative that sit close to an established brand. What used to take a small studio a month can now take one person an afternoon.

That shift does not create new legal rights for brand owners, but it does raise the stakes on the rights that already exist. The businesses that come out ahead are the ones that registered their trade marks, locked in their distinctive packaging, and kept clear records of their original artwork before a dupe ever appeared, not after.

What you can actually do about it

• Register your trade marks properly. Your brand name, logo, and any genuinely distinctive packaging shape or pattern should be registered, not left to rely on reputation alone.
• Protect your packaging and trade dress. If your packaging shape, colour combination, or layout is distinctive enough, it can be registered in its own right, separate from your word mark.
• Use copyright in your artwork. Original label art, illustrations, and photography are protected by copyright automatically. Keep dated records of your originals, they are your evidence if a dupe copies the artwork rather than just the idea.
• Monitor early. The sooner you spot a close dupe, the more options you have, from a firm letter to a formal opposition, before the copycat brand builds its own reputation in the market.

None of this stops competitors from launching a cheaper alternative, and Australian law was never designed to stop fair competition. What it can do is give you a genuine, enforceable line to point to when a dupe crosses from "inspired by" into "copied from".

This article is general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Every brand and every dupe situation is different, please contact IP Wealth for advice specific to your circumstances.