Sector: Retail

Evidence suggests that purchasers of counterfeit goods are increasingly using buying agents in China to send their products to them internationally. Worryingly, some of these agents are proactively promoting their ability to get replica products through customs – with one promising that they will be sent via “sensitive shipping lines”.

24 July 2017

The California Court of Appeal has upheld the trial court’s ruling in the 2013 case <i>The People v Overstock</i>, in which the district attorney offices of a number of counties in California alleged unfair business practices and false advertising by Overstock.Com, Inc. The claims stemmed from Overstock’s comparative price advertising on its website product pages.

24 July 2017

Sellers of counterfeits and imitation products on various online marketplaces are adopting brand-based keywords to avoid being caught by search filters implemented to identify and remove listings for fake goods. While the use of keywords is an extra hurdle that brand owners must overcome when enforcing against counterfeits, it also demonstrates the extra effort that sellers must now go to due to additional rights protection mechanisms being implemented by e-commerce platforms.

13 July 2017

Claims that the the mark BIG BOX should be declared invalid <i>ab initio</i> under Sections 7(1)(b) (c) and (d) of the Trademarks Act have failed, after the IP adjudicator considered that the applicant had not succeeded in satisfying the burden of establishing one of the three grounds of invalidation.

10 July 2017

In <i>Morton’s of Chicago Inc v EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)</i> the EU General Court has upheld a decision of the EUIPO First Board of Appeal declaring an EU figurative trademark invalid based on earlier non-registered trademarks.

03 July 2017

Much progress has been made in recent years when it comes to protecting name and image rights, and to fighting against bad-faith registrations in China

01 July 2017

In a recent case before the Delhi High Court, a restaurant was restrained from using the plaintiff’s mark HAUS in relation to its food delivery business. The court concluded that there was a strong likelihood that customers ordering from the defendant’s CURRY HAUS outlet would believe it to be an extension or elaboration of the plaintiff’s delivery outlets.

30 June 2017

It has been reported that Nike is preparing to sell products directly through Amazon.com for the first time, utilising the latter’s new brand registry offering. As well as representing a potential commercial win for both companies, the move could highlight the benefits of the e-commerce giant’s new programme for brands fighting the spectre of counterfeit goods on the platform.

28 June 2017

One of the largest online marketplaces in China, JD.com, has signed up to the American Apparel & Footwear Association with a pledge to partner with international fashion brands “on issues surrounding IP protection”. While it celebrates being the first Chinese e-commerce company to become a certified member of the association, some may see parallels between this move and Alibaba’s brief membership of the International Anti-counterfeiting Coalition – which, nearly a year ago to the day, resulted in considerable kickback from members.

10 May 2017

There a number of important takeaways from the latest domain name conflict in the United Kingdom, including the importance of registering trademarks as domain names at the earliest opportunity

01 May 2017