Procter & Gamble Files Infringement Lawsuit

CINCINNATI, Dec. 22, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) has filed a lawsuit against McLane Company, Inc., Salado Sales and Consumer Value Products, Inc. (CVP) for trade dress infringement and unfair competition.

The suit, filed today in the United States Federal District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Dayton, involves the company's Bounty(R), Charmin(R), and Vicks' NyQuil(R) and DayQuil LiquiCaps(R) brands. Procter & Gamble will ask for a preliminary injunction to order defendants to stop distributing the infringing product and to notify their retailers to impound or return all products.

It is our belief that the defendants are selling products in packages that copy the famous P&G products and packages. P&G's products are associated with high quality and have achieved enormous goodwill among consumers. Defendants' unauthorized use of P&G's trade dress is likely to cause confusion among consumers and allows defendants to trade on the goodwill we established in these brands from years of effort and expense.

"We believe this is a case of clear infringement, designed to feed on the goodwill of our brands," said Jim Johnson, P&G chief legal officer. "These look-alike products can confuse people and are a disservice to consumers. We are filing this lawsuit to put a stop to it," Johnson added. "Copying our product designs is unfair and violates the law."

About Procter & Gamble

Three billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers(R), Tide(R), Ariel(R), Always(R), Whisper(R), Pantene(R), Mach3(R), Bounty(R), Dawn(R), Pringles(R), Folgers(R), Charmin(R), Downy(R), Lenor(R), Iams(R), Crest(R), Oral-B(R), Actonel(R), Duracell(R), Olay(R), Head & Shoulders(R), Wella, Gillette(R), and Braun. The P&G community consists of almost 140,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

SOURCE The Procter & Gamble Company -0- 12/22/2005 /CONTACT: P&G Media Contacts: In the US: +1-866-PROCTER, or +1-866-776-2837, or International: +1-513-945-9087, or Doug Shelton of P&G, +1-513-293-4117, or shelton.do@pg.com / /Web site: http://www.pg.com/ (PG) CO: Procter & Gamble Company; McLane Company, Inc.; Salado Sales and Consumer Value Products, Inc.; CVP ST: Ohio IN: HOU HEA MTC FOD SU: LAW JE-LA -- CLTH010 -- 1666 12/22/2005 08:30 EST http://www.prnewswire.com