Topic: Anti-counterfeiting

The Metropolitan Court of Budapest has issued a provisional injunction ordering the seizure of alleged counterfeit goods bearing the trademarks of a famous fashion company. The injunction ensures that the alleged infringing goods are not released on to the market, even though a related criminal investigation has been dropped owing to lack of evidence.

21 February 2003

Changes to the Russian Trademark Law have come into force. The amendments - which bring Russia one step closer to WTO membership - draw a clear line between genuine and counterfeit goods, and toughen the penalties for counterfeiting.

07 February 2003

The High Court of the Canton Zurich has affirmed the conviction of a wholesaler for selling fake Levi's jeans. The court upheld the first-instance ruling allowing Levi's to conceal from the court and the defendant the details of secret marks found only on genuine products.

27 January 2003

The Czech government has amended its intellectual property law in order to provide trademark owners with better protection against imports of counterfeit goods. The amended law allows customs authorities to determine whether goods are counterfeit and, in undisputed cases, have the goods destroyed.

24 January 2003

The owner of the PANASONIC trademark has launched an extensive anti-counterfeiting campaign involving numerous raids against 15 parties in the PRC. A 'shadow' company, incorporated in Hong Kong, had adopted the famous mark as part of its company name and then began manufacturing and selling infringing goods.

09 December 2002

The European Commission has published disturbing statistics illustratingthe scale and diversity of counterfeiting. It appears that counterfeiters are no longer targeting just luxury goods, but also mass-produced goods that are likely to escape the attention of customs officials. What are legislators doing in the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States to tackle this problem? Chris McLeod of McDermott, Will & Emery takes a look.

04 December 2002