Tattoo Box Vs Inkbox: A Story Of Intellectual Property Infringement And Toxic Products
Intellectual property theft: Tattoo Box versus InkBox.
Several years ago I got a call from the US. It was from a client of another company. She first said that she had a problem with a tattoo she got from us. I as,ed for more information but she told me “no, I did it at home”. Which is confusing. And after a few more confusing replies I realized a company was using my business name in their advertising to sell temporary tattoos by mail. This company is Inkbox, founded 7 years after I opened my business, Tattoo Box, trademarked in Canada. I tried to find a solution to assist their client but the result was I needed to reach out to this company who was not based in Canada. By email, I informed them that their product is not a tattoo, and adding Tattoo Box in their advertising, url tags, and hashtags put my business in the spotlight in a negative sense. They assured me that they do not use the word “Tattoo Box” for any purpose and would not advertise in Canada. Just by checking the code on their site proved the assertion to be completely untrue and it is continuing. Even now, 10 years later. When my clients search for my studios they receive advertising and web links for Inkbox, now owned by the BIC Company.
The culprits have got a lot of money.
BIC is a plastics chemical company. They are known for their throwaway plastic ballpoint pens and disposable razors. But in the legal and environmental world, they are best known for dumping of carcinogenic compounds into rivers, lakes, the ocean and poisoning entire regions of the world’s groundwater with micro plastics and cancer causing chemicals. Just search “BIC Company Lawsuit” to get an idea of how endemic their environmental damage has been, sued by governments around the world. Surprisingly not for intellectual property theft.
Now they own a temporary tattoo company that uses chemicals to stain the skin with possible allergens on unsuspecting clients. And that company is using my business name to advertise, my name. In fact, this was a name chosen by my former business partner in Montreal. She had wanted to have a tattoo studio called Tattoo Box for years before meeting me and before we made it a reality together. Making the name the Intellectual Property of Tattoo Box exclusively and without any consultation Inkbox has muddied our name.
Sure, Inkbox was not the first business to borrow from us. Another studio owner passed into my business in Canada and copied everything. Even stealing ideas like offering iPads for clients to play and serving of food with while they wait. Without too much time tho he went out of business, because a copy is just a copy and is not worth as much as an original concept.
Inkbox has continued to injure people with its proprietary Arginine and Genipa Plant compound. This compound is designed to maximize its normally rare side effect of discolouration of skin. it is in fact an allergen. Many foods and supplements contain Arginine and those foods and drugs have warning labels for moderate doses of arginine. While they do have a discrete warning on the Inkbox site, it requires searching through 5 webpages before you can find it. Stating only that if you are prone to allergies then test our product on yourself. “If you have sensitive skin or allergies, it’s always a good idea to do a small patch test! “. Arginine alone can cause anaphylactic shock, 3rd degree blistering of skin, loss of tissue or skin death, and many other damaging allergic reactions, and this company knows it and still wants you to test it out.
These plants are dangerous.
Medical research has linked Genipa Plant and Arginine to allergies and destruction of skin from using the exact formula of Inkbox products. Inkbox does not provide access to the data sheet to their product ingredients but here it is. Medical Data Sheet for Genipa Plant Extract.
This Inkbox product has historically received complaints from clients who were not helped and later were asked to not post about those problems in online forums like Twitter or Facebook. There’s Reddit threads on this, Facebook groups, and Twitter threads, all on client allergies to Inkbox. These products, the health of their clients, just like the company claiming to not use my business name, are not using honesty with anyone. It is unfortunate that when a person searches for a tattoo business they are confronted by a fraud based business that poisons the environment and does not disclose the dangers of their products to consumers. Social media outlets care little for accusations of this type of intellectual property theft, but we hope that will change.
Tattoo Box France is here to keep tattooing honest.
