Brand Protection Teams in Pursuit of E-Commerce Counterfeiters (+AUDIO)

The following shared article titled, “Growth of Online Shopping Spurs Trade in Counterfeit Products,” was published in the Baltimore Sun on April 30, 2017, and written by Lorraine Mirabella.

The article details the proliferation of e-commerce counterfeiting, but it also highlights the importance of utilizing internal brand protection teams, as well as coordinating with outside experienced brand protection professionals, and organizations in order to effectively track the criminals.

Here is one telling quote, “Companies like Pandora and Under Armour have dedicated internal teams seeking out counterfeiters and turn to law enforcement, lawsuits, and other channels to protect their brands…”

Bob Cozzolina, the Global Customs and Investigations Director at a San Francisco law firm, for example, is quoted as saying that he, “…maintains a global network of investigators who work on cases.” He continued, “Some of the counterfeiters have been clever, and they tend to mask their country of origin by moving manufacturing of counterfeit products to other developing countries that might not be on customs or law enforcement’s radar…We think it’s important on the counterfeiting side to address the problem from a variety of angles — civil, criminal, customs, supply chain, education.”

The article also makes reference to the International Anti-Counterfeting Coalition’s (IACC) “Rogue Block” program that shuts down credit card merchant accounts of infringing websites, which as it turns out, can lead to many more shutdowns because countless impersonating websites are often linked to one merchant account.

Only through a holistic protection strategy can any brand hope to effectively battle e-commerce infringement.

Link to the Baltimore Sun article:

Disclaimer: IPPIBlog.com is offered as a service to the professional IP community. While every effort has been made to check information in this blog, we provide no guarantees or warranties, express or implied, with regard to content provided in IPPIBlog.com. We disclaim any and all liability and responsibility for the qualification or accuracy of representations made by the contributors or for any disputes that may arise. It is the responsibility of the readers to independently investigate and verify the credentials of such person and the accuracy and validity of the information provided by them. This blog is provided for general information purposes only and is not intended to provide legal or other professional advice.