Kruger Products

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The Kruger Products factory set on the Ottawa River in Quebec
Kruger Products LP, formerly Scott Paper Limited, is Canada's leading manufacturer and distributor of towel and tissue products for consumer, in-home, use and for commercial, away-from-home, use. Formerly a majority-owned subsidiary of Scott Paper Company, it was acquired by Kruger Inc. of Montreal, Quebec in 1997 following Scott's merger with Kimberly-Clark, due to a ruling from the Canadian Competition Bureau.

The company is currently 83.1% owned by Kruger and 16.9% owned by KP Tissue Inc. (TSX: KPT), which was incorporated in 2013 for the sole purpose of acquiring a small limited-partnership (non-voting) interest in Kruger Products (serving a purpose similar but not identical to a tracking stock). The company has operations in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Latin America and employs over 10,000 people.

Intellectual property

As part of Kruger's purchase of Scott Paper Limited, Kimberly-Clark sold several trademarks originally owned by Scott U.S., such as Tournament of Hearts and Purex, to the Canadian firm, and also allowed the latter to continue to use several other brand names – including Scott, Cottonelle, ScotTowels and Viva – under licence until June 6, 2007, at which time Kimberly-Clark became free to introduce new products under those names in Canada.[1] Beginning in 2004, Kruger was allowed to transition many of the brands in the latter group to other trademarks owned outright by Kruger; accordingly, between 2004 and 2006, Cottonelle was rebranded as Cashmere, and ScotTowels became SpongeTowels. Kimberly-Clark, in turn, launched its own versions of Kleenex Cottonelle toilet paper and Scott paper towels in Canada once the licence agreement expired in 2007.

The Canadian company was also required to change its name once the licensing agreement expired, and adopted the Kruger Products name in fall 2006.

Under a separate but related agreement, the "Scotties" brand has been licensed to Kruger until at least 2021, with options to renew for successive 25-year terms; Kimberly-Clark already owned the competing Kleenex brand and presumably would have no need to reclaim this trademark. This allowed Kruger to continue its sponsorship of Canada's women's curling championship, formerly the Scott Tournament of Hearts, under a slightly modified title beginning in 2007: the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Products

  • Cashmere bathroom tissue (Eastern Canada only; formerly Cottonelle)
  • Purex bathroom tissue (Western Canada only)
  • SpongeTowels paper towels (formerly ScotTowels)
  • Scotties facial tissue (Note: Irving Tissue owns the U.S. licence)
  • White Swan napkins, bathroom tissue, paper towels and facial tissue (value brand; referred to by some competitors as the "bird brand"[2])
  • Capri bathroom tissue (value brand)
  • White Cloud bathroom tissue, facial tissue (U.S. only)

References

  1. ↑ Regulatory filings - see "Annual information form" for trademark licence explanation - see also Canadian Trade-mark Database
  2. ↑ Procter & Gamble. "Charmin Toilet Paper – Products". Retrieved 2013-02-23. 

External links

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