Gillette Sues Major Rival For Infringement

Gillette main rival in the affordable razor market, Dollar Shave Club, is using infringed technology in all their razors, the shaving behemoth said in a federal lawsuit filed last week. Gillette said that, while conducting “market surveillance” earlier this year, it discovered Dollar Shave Club illegally using patented technology for many of its razors. Gillette controls 68 percent of the U.S.’s $3.3 billion shaving business, but the rise of Dollar Shave Club and its fellow e-commerce startups – conflated with a beard trend and consumer upset at rising razor prices – have begun to eat away at profits. “We’re the no. 1 razor in large part because we invest in the best technology. (Protecting) it is something we take very seriously,” said Damon Jones, spokesman for Procter & Gamble, which owns Gillette. “A lot of hard-working scientists put their blood, sweat and tears into this, so, frankly, it’s not fair to them.”