A fierce legal battle over the unique design of sanitary pads has escalated to the High Court. with two local manufacturers accusing a rival of copying their flagship product to ride on its market success.
Hilalium & Sons (UR HOME) Limited and its subsidiary, KOT Group Limited, have sued Softcare Kenya Company Limited for allegedly infringing on their registered industrial designs of the widely recognised “MY GIRL’ sanitary pads.
In court papers filed before the High Court in Mombasa, the two firms argue that Softcare Kenya deliberately imitated their purple-packaged product, creating confusion in the market and eroding consumer trust by introducing a product with a similar design and colour without their consent.
“To make it worse, Softcare has been marketing, distributing, and selling the offending product through wholesale and retail channels, thereby causing irreparable harm to our hard-won market share and overall value chain,” the two firms said through Evans Irungu, their personnel manager.
Hilalium & Sons describes itself as a limited liability company engaged in the manufacture, importation, and distribution of sanitary towels and other fast-moving consumer goods in Kenya. Its subsidiary, KOT Group Limited, operates under the parent company’s wing. Together, the firms market ‘MY GIRL’ sanitary pads, which they say have, since 2017, gained remarkable recognition, particularly for their purple-coloured packaging.
The firms state that the product’s growing popularity prompted them to seek legal protection. Court documents show that in December 2024, the two companies successfully registered two industrial designs, which are the Purple Industrial Design and the Sky Blue Industrial Design.
Softcare Kenya Company Ltd is yet to file a response to the suit. According to the plaintiffs, both designs were registered under the Industrial Property Act, 2001, after meeting all legal requirements. With certificates of registration in hand, the firms claim their intellectual property rights are secured for 15 years, subject to renewal every five years.
“Our company, therefore, has the right of protection of its registered industrial designs, which the defendant is infringing upon with reckless abandon,” said Mr Irungu.
They claim that independent surveys, including one by the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA), cemented “MY GIRL” as a market leader among female consumers.
The relief, however, has been short-lived. The companies argue they discovered that Softcare Kenya had infringed on their protected designs by introducing a competing product- Softcare sanitary pads- that allegedly mirrors the purple industrial design of ‘MY GIRL’.
They argue that the similarities go beyond coincidence. The Softcare packaging reportedly features a light-skinned model placed on the left side of the package, a purple colour scheme on the top and bottom sections, a central blue strip, and a slanted illustration of a sanitary ped on the right.
They also point to the word ‘SOFTCARE’ written in white, in a font and placement that resembles that of ‘MY GIRL’. The plaintiffs insist these design elements were copied wholesale with the intent of deceiving consumers into mistaking Softcare products for their own.
By doing so, they allege, Softcare is benefiting commercially from the brand recognition the plaintiffs have spent years building. They argue that the continued marketing and sale of the disputed product creates confusion, weakens brand loyalty to ‘MY GIRL’, and harms their reputation.
“The purpose of the defendant’s actions is aimed at riding on the back of the plaintiffs’ product market success by creating confusion in the market and misleading consumers into buying the defendant’s offending product at the plaintiffs’ expense,” said the two firms through PG. Kaingu & Company.
The plaintiffs maintain that they never transferred, licensed, or consented to any use of their registered industrial designs, nor have they received any such request since securing their registration.
“The defendant has directly and illegally copied the plaintiffs’ products’ registered purple industrial design and figuration in their offending Products,” the firms said.
They accuse Softcare of reproducing the protected design without consent, importing and offering for sale infringing products, and intentionally stocking products that exploit consumer confusion for commercial gain.
“If unchecked, the infringement will cause substantial financial loss and irreparable harm to the plaintiff’s reputation and market share,” they warned
The companies are now asking the High Court to declare that Softcare’s product infringes on their registered designs and to issue a permanent injunction barring Softcare from manufacturing, importing, distributing, or selling any product resembling MY GIRL.
They also want the court to order the surrender and destruction of all infringing products, compel Softcare to account for profits earned from the alleged infringement, and award general damages along with the costs of the suit.
While Hilalium &/Sons and KOT Group position themselves as manufacturers whose innovation is under attack, Softcare Kenya is expected to defend its right to compete in the market. The court will now be tasked with determining whether the cited similarities constitute design infringement under the Industrial Property Act or fall within the bounds of fair market competition.
For now, the plaintiffs insist that without judicial intervention, their hard-won dominance in the market a be irreparably harmed.
