What companies can do to safeguard brand image in China as traditional protection evolves

In today's fiercely competitive market, a company's brand is not only a symbol of the image that it wants to portray, but also a reflection of its core competitiveness. Therefore, brand protection is crucial for enterprises to thrive. 

Traditional brand protection methods in China mainly rely on trademark registration. However, with the evolving market and development of technology, depending solely on trademarks is no longer sufficient to meet companies’ comprehensive brand protection needs. Therefore, companies should explore multidimensional strategies for brand protection, from traditional trademark prosecution to new methods, such as trusted digital timestamps.

The foundations of brand protection

As visual identifiers, trademarks are unique and recognisable and form the foundation of brand protection. By registering trademarks, companies can obtain exclusive rights to prevent others from using their marks on the same or similar goods and services, thereby protecting their brands against infringement. Trademark protection is not limited to the domestic market; enterprises should also register their marks in relevant jurisdictions according to their business needs to achieve global brand protection.

However, trademark protection is not foolproof. With the increasing prevalence of counterfeits and malicious registration, organisations must take more proactive measures to safeguard their rights. This includes:

• enhancing market monitoring to detect and combat infringement in a timely manner; 
• establishing a robust IP rights protection process through legal means; and 
• strengthening communication with consumers to enhance brand awareness and loyalty.

Other protection avenues

Comprehensive planning and IP management 

Brand protection should not be limited to trademarks – it should also include patents, copyrights and other IP rights. Companies should meticulously plan and manage their intellectual property, establish detailed archives and categorise their assets for efficient resource allocation. Additionally, businesses should stay abreast of the latest IP developments – both domestically and internationally – to avoid infringement risks and wasting resources through redundant research.

Shaping and promoting brand image

Brand image is a crucial component of brand protection. Businesses must shape and promote this through advertising, promotional videos and websites to cultivate a positive perception of its brand among consumers. During promotion, companies should focus on differentiation and uniqueness to distinguish themselves from competitors and attract target consumers. 

Further, enterprises should strengthen interaction and communication with consumers to understand their needs and feedback, enabling timely adjustments to brand strategies and promotional content. They should provide quality after-sales services by promptly addressing consumer issues and complaints to enhance trust in and loyalty to the brand. 

Businesses should also maintain strict quality control to ensure that their products are safe and comply with Chinese laws and regulations and enhance their promotional efforts to increase consumer awareness and positive perceptions.

Market supervision and combatting counterfeit products

Counterfeits pose a significant challenge when it comes to brand protection. Businesses must enhance their market supervision to detect and combat fakes in a timely manner. This includes:

• establishing a robust market-monitoring system to track and combat counterfeit products;
• strengthening cooperation with law enforcement agencies; and 
• creating an effective distributor management system to ensure compliance with contractual agreements and brand image requirements.

Utilising legal measures for rights protection

When a company's IP rights are infringed, it should actively utilise legal measures. This includes filing lawsuits with the courts to stop the infringement and seeking compensation for damages. It should request that the authorities handle the infringement and resolve disputes through mediation or settlement. Through the implementation of legal measures and taking actions to protect their rights, enterprises can safeguard their legal rights and enhance brand image and reputation.

IP timestamps for brand protection

In the digital era, trusted timestamps are gradually attracting the attention of organisations as an emerging copyright protection technology. 

Timestamps are electronic certificates issued by authoritative time-service institutions to prove that electronic files existed and were complete at a specific point in time. They are characterised by immediacy, authority and legal effect, and they provide robust temporal evidence and copyright protection for enterprises' digital works. Businesses can use timestamps to ensure that their digital works are legally recognised and protected in terms of the creation timeline and content integrity.

Timestamps can be applied to multiple areas of brand protection. For example, enterprises can use timestamp technology to prove the creation time and content integrity of their digital works. During brand promotion and marketing, enterprises can leverage timestamp technology to enhance the credibility and trustworthiness of their brand image. Further, businesses can use this tool to combat counterfeiting and infringement, and to bolster legal evidence to support their rights protection actions.