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What is online brand protection and what is it for?
The dynamic space of online and eCommerce platforms offers brand owners with an amazing outreach and new opportunities. However, it also imposes threats by counterfeiters and other offenders, who exploit the same advantages to reach customers.
As online markets and eCommerce grow, online threats are not only becoming more widespread, they are also continually becoming more sophisticated. Although many brands are still unaware of the scope of online brand abuse, it may adversely affect their revenue, both online and offline. It may also dilute their brand’s reputation and damage its credibility, further diminishing the brand’s value.
Even brands that are aware of the risks associated with online brand abuse may be unaware of the magnitude of the problem. Other brands may simply give up or devote precious time and considerable funds to try and combat the problem, just to see it getting bigger. The reality is that trying to fight the problem without having effective online brand protection service will end up draining resources, funds and time, with little effect.
In the digital age, online brand protection is not a nice-to-have, it is a must-have.
What is brand abuse?
Brand abuse is the exploitation of Intellectual Property (IP) without having legal permission for use of IP assets from the IP legal owner. Common activities of brand abuse are:
(1) Counterfeiting
Counterfeiting is the manufacturing, distribution or sales of goods that use a trademark, logo, design or utility patent, without permission from the legal IP rights owner, often with the intention of misleading consumers to think they are buying authentic goods.
(2) Trademark squatting
Trademark squatting is the registering of someone else’s mark in bad faith, often in territories where the original mark owner has yet to register their mark, or where there are issues of transliteration, as may happen with Chinese trademarks.
(3) Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement, also referred to as piracy, is the unauthorized use, reproduction, distribution or display of work protected by copyright Intellectual Property law. Copyright protects literary, musical or artistic works. For example, it helps to prevent the copying of photographs to other material that was produced by a brand owner.
(4) Patent infringement
Patent infringement is the use or sale of goods with a patented invention, without permission from the legal patent holder.
(5) Infringing websites and social media accounts
Websites and social media accounts which are created with the purpose of infringing upon the IP rights of brand owners, are a common brand abuse practice. Among the more known activities are:
Cybersquatting – registering or using web-domain names in bad faith. This involves the purchase of domain names that use the names of existing brands, trademarks or copyrighted work, for the purpose of selling illegal goods, misleading consumers, or offering such web-domains for sale to the person or company who owns the trademark contained within the domain-name, at an inflated price.
Typosquatting – a form of cybersquatting that targets users who type an incorrect website name, diverting traffic to websites different to the one they intended to reach. This is also called ‘URL hijacking’.
Scam sites and social media accounts – websites that imitate the look-and-feel of an authentic brand’s website, with the intention of deceiving consumers or social media accounts imitating existing brands or people, for illicit profits.
(6) Gray market sales
Gray market sales are, for the most part, not illegal. However, the sales of authentic goods through unauthorized channels and in territories that were not authorized for sale by the legal brand owner may lead to brand abuse. Gray marketing, also known as parallel importing, often makes use of price differences between territories, and in many cases is the result of distributors breaching their distribution agreements.
Online brand protection service
The professional online brand protection service offered to our firm’s clients is the result of a collaboration between Reinhold Cohn and Partners with Wiser Market, which has developed one of the most advanced digital enforcement technologies in the world, and which carries out its services using these technological means.
A combination of professional expertise, and many years of experience of our firm, together with the digital capabilities of Wiser Market, are a significant advantage for brand owners who wish to protect their rights on digital platforms.
