Bulgarian firm Iridium, based in Plovdiv was fined by the Commission of Protection of Competition (CPC) for imitating and misappropriating the name of a Finnish company, Dnevnik daily reported on December 22 2009;
 
The Bulgarian company had registered the internet domain rapala.bg the name of a renowned Finnish producer of fishing accessories.
 
Dimitar Cholakov, the owner of Iridium, claimed that more than 85 per cent of the goods on offer in his firm were products supplied by the Finnish Rapala.

When authorities checked the premises on the company, however, the investigation revealed that his claims were false. Accordingly, the company was fined 8200 leva, while Cholakov, who registered the domain, was fined an additional 500 leva.
 
The CPC claimed that Iridium’s actions had violated the honesty and trust between retailers, that they misled customers, and that it harmed the interests of both Rapala and costumers who were misguided into purchasing goods from a company that illegally used the name of the Finnish firm.
 
Rapala is a major international manufacturer of fishing lures and auxiliary fishing kits, established in Finland. Their most popular product is a balsa wood minnow imitation lure named the Original Floater.
 
Rapala sells more than 20 million lures each year, in 140 different countries. Two-hundred forty-two all-time world-record fish were set on Rapala lures, with 15 new records set in 2005. It is also the only fishing lure manufacturer that mass-produces balsa wood lures.