Report on the counterfeiting on the Internet
The service of “Internet brand intelligence” generates strategic/operating reports on the presence of counterfeiting of trademarks and products and is based on sophisticated technologies of crawling, able to acquire content from any type of open source.
The acquisition of the contents could be total or a sample: in the latter case particular methods of research are adopted to get the best representation of the content to be analyzed, taking also into account the typical behaviour of those who surf the Internet.
In the e-Commerce, on the major platforms worldwide, the Report includes the precise quantitative and economic enhancement of the existing insertions and its articulation by the product family.
For the Trade Associations, Consortia or Public Administration, the Reports on counterfeiting can also be made at “Multi-Brand” level with the elaboration of metrics and “Key Performance Indicators” (KPI) of the Sector/Industry.
The Report on counterfeiting is normally followed by a program of interventions of the “Internet brand protection” aiming at eliminating abuses of the identified brand/product.
Detection of clusters of website counterfeiters
If the counterfeit of a trademark is detected on the pages of a website in hundreds/thousands of cases – both for purposes related to fake products, or for the illegal presence of a trademark in the “Domain Name”(NaD) – before deciding for enforcement actions, it is essential to understand what is the real situation to be faced.
In particular sectors (fashion, luxury, sports apparel, pharmacy, software, etc..), the counterfeiting on the web is in fact an “industrial” activity, highly sophisticated, adopting all the strategies of the multinational enterprise: diversification of end markets and the range of trademarks proposed, research of the economies of scale, adoption of solutions to minimize risk, etc.
On the basis of a superficial analysis, the illegal use of trademarks assumes varied configurations, apparently attributable to a myriad of subjects difficult to detect, ready to be reborn if not hit at the right target.
The service of Convey has the ability to emerge the existence of sets (clusters) consisting of multiple websites related to the same organization, identifying and extracting from the same technical, computing, commercial, demographic and look&feel information as well as demonstrating, among these contents, the existence of recurrent “patterns”, even if they are hidden ones.
Evidence of use & notoriety
In the long and varied life of a Trademark, understood as industrial property right in force in a particular country, it is not uncommon for the Brand Owner, to have to prove the continuous use of the same for the market areas for which it is registered under penalty of forfeiture of their right.
It is equally practical, the possibility for the holder of a later trademark – identical or similar to another previously registered one- to have to demonstrate the knowledge and the tolerance of that sign by the holder of the earlier trademark, in order to prevent the application for registration of invalidity of the later mark. And yet, for the ”famous” Brands it is often necessary, to document their “notoriety” or “reputation” in order to obtain “extended trademark protection” which allows the owner of the Brand to prevent third parties not only from the use of the symbol, or a similar one, in reference to the products or services specified in the application for registration, but also the ones which are not similar.
In these and other similar situations, the methodologies and the solutions of “internet brand intelligence” of Convey are able to generate, in a short time, analysis reports on the status of these distinctive signs in the “virtual” world, a context now considered – even in court – of fundamental importance.
The evidence of use or pre-use and the typical indicators of goodwill or reputation of a trademark are researched through all the channels of the Network and are organized and properly documented in a dossier, often in a collaboration with the Industrial Property Consultants or the Legal Consultants that accompany the trademark holder.
Analysis of the “trademark dilution and vulgarization”
The success of a brand on the market is the goal of any business organization, but in some cases the excess of success can generate, in legal terms, the risk of forfeiture of the rights of the trademark.
Terms such as aspirin, bikini, biro, cellophane, jeeps, linoleum, etc.. – originally trademarks – have got “popularized” therefore becoming common words that identify a kind of goods and not their first productive source: this outcome is a significant harm to the right holder, starting to lack the distinctive capacity, a key element of its validity and, at the same time, it can represent a tremendous opportunity for competitors to obtain the forfeiture of the industrial patent.
In any case – defence or attack of a trademark right – it is first necessary to carry out a specific activity of “internet brand intelligence” to understand the existing situation and its ‘peculiar symptoms’: frequency of citation of the term/trademark as a common word, or combined/not combined with indications of the status (e.g. the presence of logos ®, ™, “registered trademark”, etc..), frequency of co-citation of the brand under the name of the owner, presence in the Network of interventions of the Owner or of his delegates or persons entitled, aiming at the clarification of the “status”, etc..
The methodologies and solutions of “brand intelligence” of Convey are able to generate, in a short time, in-depth analysis reports on the defence or the attack of such IP rights: the results are properly documented in a dossier.
Report of the internet brand compliance
The “Internet brand compliance” is the new area of management and control of the brands in the virtual market of a network of selective distribution that involves Brand Manager, Commercial Directors, Marketing and Legal Affairs.
The priority objectives of an analysis of the Internet compliance usually are:
- The knowledge of the compliance of use of these trademarks in regards to the corporate policies (organizational/business) by the authorized dealers;
- The knowledge of the unauthorized use of the Brand by third parties not (or no longer) belonging to the authorized dealers and/or residents in different countries;
- The knowledge of the co-presence of the company/companies brand/brands with other trademarks of competitors.
Some of the problems mentioned can lead to the need to deepen, always on the Internet, typical situations of the “parallel market / gray market “ and the eventual contamination of this with the official channels.
Based on the latest methodological and technological innovations in the area of “Internet brand intelligence” and on applied specific experience acquired from prestigious brands, the services of “Brand compliance” of Convey provide the elaboration of customized reports containing the identification and the analysis of peculiar technical/economical aspects related to subjects of a particular market/territory (e.g. in Italy) presented in the Network, active in the sales of particular products/services, with detailed documentation of the different and the relevant aspects encountered.