A Way Out for Fighting Back Against Trademark Infringement and Piracy

Trademark is a mark which can be graphically represented and differentiates goods of one producer from another producer and is directly related to the reputation of a brand owner or trademark owner. Today, when one goes to any general store where we can find all sorts of products and innumerable brands, there we become careless because of reasons like:

·         The infrastructure of the shop;

·         Or we tend to get distracted by seeing so many different types of items and commodities

These are few reasons which make us careless and give the retailers a chance to use that opportunity. You must be wondering why? This can be explained from a simple example that generally we buy our monthly needful in bulk in the starting of the month, where in every time it’s not possible that we go to some kind of mega mart and shop by ourselves but sometimes it might happen that we shop from small retail shops, here, because of the above mentioned two reasons the retailers can easily cheat on us by putting fake products instead of real ones in our shopping bags. When we reach our home then we see that there is something different or sometimes those fake products even go unnoticed.

This forms the base of the piracy which further results in trademark infringement. Trademark gets infringed when somebody tries to sell his product in the name of some established brand by deceiving the consumers and giving them the impression that their product is the branded product itself by creating similar trademark or names and also selling similar products as of the trademark.

Cheating like this can only happen when there is lack of information on fake products among the consumers and here they pave the way for piracy and trademark infringement. A consumer should not only have knowledge about his trademark but also should be very careful while shopping. A consumer should always keep a check on what is being given by the shopkeeper and should try and individually check the packaged products which helps in differentiating between fake and genuine products. It also creates a fear in the mind of shopkeeper as he will not try to cheat the customers by seeing them so alert and cautious.

These are the precautionary measures but the problem arises when these things have already happened and the consumers are not able to find any remedy to such problems. These problems can be solved by registering complaints about any trademark infringement incident that happens or any complaints regarding fake products on online portals or platforms that provide all solutions relating to these problems faced by the consumers and also the brand owners. Consumers and brand owners can go for trademark infringement investigation which will further corroborate as strong evidence and thus help in fighting against piracy and one of such strong and reliable platform is Brands and Fakes.

 Piracy is deep rooted and will take time to go but one can take these small steps in order to make it a big revolution as it requires equal participation from everyone in order to fight back against brand piracy and trademark infringement.

Role of Intellectual Property in Protection of Biodiversity in Relation to Brand Protection

All living creatures including man together constitute biodiversity and they are dependent on each other for their existence and survival and this makes biodiversity necessary which therefore means that conservation of biodiversity is equally important. The word ‘biodiversity’ consists of two words ‘bio’ which means life and ‘diversity’ which means variability as it includes various life forms, so, biodiversity means existence of a huge number of various kinds of animals and plants which make a balanced environment.

Biodiversity has been brought to an international level by Convention on Biological diversity, 1992, also known as CBD which showed the concern for the conservation and protection of biodiversity. India enacted the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 in order to provide legislative recognition to the conservation of biodiversity. The main objectives of the biodiversity law are:

Ø  Conservation of biological diversity:

This can be done in two ways that is either conserving habitat in its natural habitat or conserving it in place other than the natural habitat.

Ø  Sustainable use of the components of biological diversity:

This means using and saving adequate for the future generation.

Ø  Equitable benefit sharing:

This means sharing the benefit which we get out of bio-resources in an equitable manner.

Further it’s important to know that why there is a relationship between intellectual property and biodiversity?

The relationship exists between them due to ‘bio-piracy’ which mean stealing or robbing the bio-resources or knowledge related to bio-resources. The knowledge which vests in bio-resources is not new and is being carried on from generation to generation and this knowledge is termed as ‘traditional- knowledge’ which is at stake because it is consistently being misused by people and organizations and traditional knowledge comes under intellectual property. Thus, they are directly related to each other. So, where there will be chances to harm the biodiversity in any manner there will be involvement of intellectual property law.

Now, we come to the basic issue which is the role of intellectual property law in protection of biodiversity for which it is necessary that we know the relationship between two laws.

Starting with patents, the bio-resources and traditional knowledge by themselves can’t be protected under patent law but patent may be granted on inventions based on traditional knowledge and/or bio-resources.

Bio-resources can be further protected under trade secret, geographical indications and under the plant varieties protection law. So, it may be noted that intellectual property laws are either directly or indirectly related to biodiversity law, the above mentioned laws that is the Patents Act, 1970; the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 and the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001 are directly related to traditional knowledge, biodiversity and bio-piracy, where mainly dominated by patents.

The Copyright Act, 1957 is indirectly related with the traditional knowledge, biodiversity and bio-piracy as if the traditional knowledge is in a written form it may be copyrightable under the head of the literary work.

Trade mark may be used as a marketing tool for products involving traditional knowledge and biological material. It also provides us with the information on fake products and identifies them which help in stopping the piracy.

So, it appears that intellectual property laws are intensely related to the biodiversity and helps in protecting the biodiversity. Further, the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 makes express provisions regarding intellectual property under section 6 of the Act which empowers the National Biodiversity Authority to grant approval for obtaining an intellectual property right relating to a biological resource.

Hence, it is balance between the two laws and both works together for the protection of biodiversity. As India is growing in every aspect which also opens up the vulnerability of Indian bio-resources because it is one country which is blessed with bio-resources in abundance and globalization seems to be a threat for all these. Thus, the involvement of intellectual property laws becomes necessary either directly or indirectly and they play a great role in protecting biodiversity that arises from the relationship between both laws.

The companies or enterprises dealing with the bio-resources equally need to protect themselves from the bio-piracy and other threats both nationally and internationally for which they can take help of the brand protection services in India which provides platforms to fight against all these and one such well known platform is Brands and Fakes.

    

INFORMATION ON FAKE PRODUCTS: NEED OF THE HOUR IN PROTECTING BRANDS

Currently we see the markets flooded with various kinds of apparels, foot wears, accessories etc. and thus new brands keeps on pouring in with passing time. Also with time the brand users know the brands they use and love. But the increasing popularity of the brands give rise to piracy as well and in the current scenario, you might find pirated products more than the real branded products, it’s shocking but it’s true which further gives rise to the insecurities to the brand owners because they do face a lot of loss in terms of finance and reputation due to piracy. Here protection of brands becomes an important issue which can be only dealt when there is information of piracy to the general public and brand owners. If we see closely it’s a two way loss, both to the brands and the general public.

Now a day’s all kinds of brands relating to different products all over the world is available in India and people are happy to use them and one such sector which is immensely flourishing is the footwear industry. Today, almost all the branded shoes are available in our country be it some designer shoes or some top notch classic shoe brands like Crocs, Red Tape etc. are easily accessible through rising market and technology. This also gives rise to the fake shoe products which are available in the local markets of India, and which though look similar but don’t match the quality of the original product at all. The material used in it is of low quality which can harm the consumer in many ways like some skin problems like corns in the feet which is very painful and not easily curable and one of the main reason of this disease is wearing bad or low quality shoes or sandals, further other reasons like discomfort while walking, shoe bites and also these products don’t last long which is why it is always recommended by experts even the doctors to wear shoes of good quality and as we know good quality comes with good brands.

India, as we know majorly comprises of the middle class people and they are the only targeted lot by the pirates and this is because of two major reasons:

• First, that they are not well aware of the brands they use and 
• Secondly, they have limited money to spend.

These two reasons are used in order to lure them to buy the cheap fake products. Also if the consumers find out that they have landed up with the fake products even then they don’t bother to complain which is not expected of them as this whole era is about one’s rights and protection of the same so if some of the rights are violated one should come up with it.

It’s not totally the responsibility of the consumers in the matter of fake products but the brands are also equally responsible for creating the awareness and circulating the information on fake products. They can come up with various ways of doing so:

• The very first and easy step which can be taken is to create awareness about their own brand in detail which can comprise of all the small details relating to the brand logo, authorized dealership, authorized retailers, authorized online retailers, different authorized stores all over the world, etc. this will automatically help the consumers to detect the fake products.

• Above, is the precaution that can be taken by the brand owners but what if they have to report piracy against their brands in India? This can be answered and simplified by the different online platforms provided for the registering of such complaints on fake products which can be registered by the brand owners or the consumers.  One such very popular platform is Brands and Fakes which provides all kinds of support regarding these cases.

But the major problem arises when the brand owners are unable to find proper platform which provides with brand protection services in India but one of the reliable and one stop answer for their problems is Brands and Fakes which is an online platform which offers brands owners the protection they require at all levels. So, it’s evident that the information and awareness on the fake pirated products is necessary in order to protect the brand value and reputation be it any industry or sector.    

THE RISE OF COSMETIC BRAND PIRACY: SAY NO TO HOAX COSMETICS WITH COMPLAINTS ON SUCH FAKE BRANDS

Today, almost all industry sectors are hit by counterfeiting and piracy globally and India is in no isolation, rather we find these problems taking a rapid rise here. Brand owners put a lot of effort both financially and physically in order to bring up their products in mainstream markets and the worst part is then when they don’t get what they deserve in terms of profits or in terms of brand following. One of the major reasons for this is the fake brands in the market which leaves these brands unprotected and for their protection it must be corroborated with proper evidence which can be acquired once these matters are investigated which is again considered to be a tedious process. Counterfeiting or piracy rob the innovators or producers of their intellectual property rights and is significantly harmful not only to the innovators but also to the consumers. Across seven industry sectors reviewed in the FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) report, 2012, the unauthorized goods sales caused average sales losses to rights holders of 21.7%.

One such sector which is highly affected through fake brands is cosmetics. Cosmetics are such products which can’t be avoided in our daily routine and it also has a direct contact with our skin so it deeply affects our personality if something goes wrong by using them. Present world is so much concerned with one’s looks and personality be it a female or a male, thus different brands are coming up with the men range so on and so forth and thus slowly cosmetics have not only become a woman’s best friend but also a man’s partner in this tough environment but we keep on hearing complaints on fake brands by the consumers of these cosmetics. When we go to the markets we hear loads of things like “madam please take this, it’s real or “we purchase in bulk due to which our price is lower than the market price” these lines are just the tactics to make you purchase the fake brands which contains many harmful ingredients or compounds including synthetically produced elements, ingredients and compounds which can leave a very bad impact on the skin. India, in the last quarter of 2004 was tallied the highest number of counterfeit perfumes and cosmetics worldwide, according to Gieschen Consultancy’s counterfeit-intelligence analysts and I am not sure for the present but the complaints haven’t reduced which gives an impression that it’s still on rise.

To have a complaint it’s essential to spot a fake cosmetic brand and which can be done by

• Knowing your brands in a very good manner which means that know the label of your brands properly. Sometimes it’s just little changes here and there and then the fake brand is ready for sale!!! So always check the label thoroughly. 
• Buying the products from authorized dealer or retailers and always look for a barcode on the products but beware fake brands come up with fake barcodes, so in order to combat that there are many free barcode scanner apps in the smart phones that can be used and if u don’t have that option then it will be safe to buy it from authorized dealers or retailers. 
• Also the packaging play a very important role as the real brands have a higher quality packaging and if you feel any kind of low quality packaging you can either not buy it or you can file complaints for the same. 

Complaints are encouraged because, we as consumers have certain rights which we should administer and also using duplicates always encourages such fake brands manufacturers to go ahead and if there will be no buyer for their fake products it will automatically result in decrease of such fake brands which is a logical way to handle it.

Also these complaints will help to take certain steps forward and find a legal solution for it.   

Where we can always be a bit careful while purchasing our branded cosmetics, sometimes it may happen that we might be trapped in these fake brands, there the question arises that “ who will help us?”. Proofs in these cases are necessary in order to put an end on such complaints and we can get it through investigation but not everyone is capable enough for these investigations, that too in India but Brands and Fakes is such a brand protection platform service which can easily help you in these situations. Also investigation helps to trace down that whether these cosmetics are domestically produced or being smuggled. Even one can register their complaints on Brands and Fakes website from where it can be taken further.

It’s not at all necessary that only consumers can be affected due to these fake brands, even other sections like the brand owners who are at higher risk than the consumers as they have their reputation attached to their brand names which will ruin up if consumers frequently have complaints then they can seek help from a brand protection investigator service in India and Brands and Fakes is one of the most popular such service provider.

 Through sharing equal responsibilities by both consumers and brand owners or dealers against these fake products or cosmetics, both can avail benefits and when there is easy availability of brand protection services in India through one of the most efficient service provider “Brands and Fakes” then there’s no point wasting time and money on fake products.