Sector: Retail

Chinese online marketplace behemoth Alibaba – in collaboration with law enforcement agency partners – has revealed the results on its latest crackdown on offline counterfeiting operations. Leveraging the big data technology that Alibaba has at its fingertips, the figures appear to be impressive – with 417 counterfeit product rackets halted and 332 suspects arrested – but brand owners will be weary of rejoicing until they see tangible results for themselves.

16 December 2016

Following the appeal of a registrar's decision, the Federal Court has restored the intention of Section 45 proceedings by stating that these are intended to be summary in nature as a means to clear deadwood from the register, not an opportunity for evidentiary overkill.

01 December 2016

Eyewear giant Specsavers has successfully secured registered trademark protection on the term SHOULD’VE, a shortened version of its well-known tagline ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’. The initial application at the UK Intellectual Property Office spurred negative media reaction earlier this year, with reports claiming that it demonstrates the overreach of trademark law. However, in exclusive comments to <i>World Trademark Review</i>, Antony Douglass, principal IP counsel at Specsavers, has hit out at the “inaccurate commentary” surrounding the mark.

30 November 2016

New research has found that typosquatters are becoming increasingly adept at securing the most valuable brand-related domains, with the authors suggesting that many brands “do not know which domains they should target for reclaim”.

24 November 2016

The Chinese celebration of Singles Day each November 11 has become one of the world’s largest shopping events – and has arguably turned into the most important day in the calendar for many of the world’s top brand owners. But as e-commerce giant Alibaba reports record Singles Day turnover for 2016, as well as greater-than-ever buy-in from foreign brands, the true extent of trademark infringement and counterfeit trade taking place during the event remains to be seen.

14 November 2016

One of South Africa’s most successful and established online retailers, Yuppiechef, recently failed in the Supreme Court of Appeal to establish trademark infringement or passing off against a rival online retailer based on its trademark YUPPIECHEF.

10 November 2016

The Federal Court recently granted an interlocutory injunction to the owner of the LITTLE GREEK TAVERNA trademark, restraining use of the deceptively similar LITTLE GREEK CUZINA trademark on the basis that knowledge of the earlier business would cause consumers to wonder whether the two were connected.

09 November 2016

Next week Alibaba is to place virtual reality (VR) technology at the centre of its Singles Day sales drive, the latest in a series of high-profile uses of the technology in China. With the country’s VR industry predicted to be worth Rmb55 billion ($8.14 billion) by 2020, it makes the market one to monitor for counsel concerned over how brands may be used (for good and bad) in the virtual environment.

03 November 2016

New research reveals that, after a decline across the previous two quarters, in Q3 2016 the number of third-party advertisers bidding on trademark terms on Google jumped 32%. Across the search engine landscape, such bidding resulted in 2.5 billion impressions – and 38 million clicks – being lost by brands.

19 October 2016

Submissions to the Office of the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) annual request for comments to identify the online and physical markets that should be included in the 2016 Notorious Markets List has seen renewed calls for Alibaba to be relisted. However, the online giant has confirmed the filing of a rebuttal comment, telling <i>World Trademark Review</i> that its submission describes its steadfast efforts to fight counterfeiters online.

10 October 2016