Yellow Brand Protection presentation on ACG Conference 2015

ANTI-COUNTERFEITING GROUPLONDON, OCTOBER 2015

DANIEL BENNETT, CEOYELLOW BRAND PROTECTION

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ABOUT YELLOW BRAND PROTECTION

• A global online anti-counterfeiting specialist, working discreetly for many of the world’s most recognized brands.

• Broadest search capability in the industry: Websites & Domains, Social Media, Mobile Apps, and 700 Online Market Places.

• Dedicated “Team China” with strong local relationships and takedowns on Taobao within 24 hours on average.

• Very successful enforcement rates, regularly exceeding 95%. Over 3m listings enforced. “We Stop at Zero”.

• Online investigation: identifying ‘key offenders’ and gathering evidence. Strong ties to ‘real-world’ enforcement stakeholders.

• Actively lobbying Alibaba Group and Facebook/Instagram to improve IPR protection for our clients.

OVER 3 MILLION INFRINGEMENTS

REMOVED

700+ Online

Markets

20+ Social Media

Platforms

World-Wide

Websites

10+ Mobile

App Platforms

ON AVERAGE YELLOW BRAND PROTECTION REDUCES ONLINE INFRINGEMENT LEVELS BY 80% IN YEAR 1 AND HAS REMOVED 3 MILLION INFRINGEMENTS TO DATE

CHALLENGES – COUNTERFEITING ONLINE

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COUNTERFEITING

• Deliberate attempt to deceive consumers by copying and marketing goods bearing well-known trade marks

• 31% of UK consumers who bought counterfeits, believed they were buying genuine at the time

• $1.77 Trillion - Projected Value of Global Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods in 2015

• The counterfeiting industry accounts for 8% of China’s GDP.. and is not changing anytime soon.

• Trademark, design, patent and copyright: IP being abused in order to mislead buyers

And other Intellectual Property crimes

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• Language and cultural barriers

• Finding counterfeit ads that are leaving out the brand name

• Finding the design/patent copies

• Brand lacking (Chinese) registrations

KEY CHALLENGESCombat counterfeiting on online marketplaces

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• The source of stock for many webstore owners

• B2B and B2C and C2C

• Online marketplaces - starting with Ebay and Amazon, have become a key battle-ground

• Initially over-shadowed by domain names and webstores

ONLINE SALES CHANNELS – MARKETPLACESThe most active channel for counterfeit sales

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• Makepolo - a Chinese platform + a Global platform

• 5 million searches from buyers every day

• 2 million daily unique visitors

• More than 60 million products

ONLINE SALES CHANNELS – MARKETPLACESIt’s not all about Alibaba

TOP 5 TIPS FOR MANAGING ONLINE MARKETPLACES

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COVER ALL MARKETPLACESThe danger of tunnel vision

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• Marketplaces - the No. 1 online sale channel among counterfeiters

• There are more than 700 active marketplaces on the internet – more than 150 in China alone

• Simply focusing on the major ones – will only result in ”site jumping” – sellers move from one site to another

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FOCUS ON ENFORCEMENTMake it impossible for the sellers to do business

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• Above – Clients with different sized issues – it is possible to gain the same results• Go for 100% success rate as standard• Be persistent - Generally it takes 9 -12 months to stabilise the volumes

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• Applying Western solutions and tactics to the Chinese market won’t take you anywhere

• Language skills and cultural understanding/respect is of utmost importance

• Use of the appropriate ‘tone’ in your communications with sites, sellers and other providers will give you greatest success

LANGUAGESAnd cultural understanding/respect

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• IPR is relatively new in China. Its first patent law came into effect in 1985, followed by a copyright law in 1990

• Sellers are often unaware of the fact that they are breaking IPR laws

• Educating the sellers whilst reducing the infringements is cost efficient (and could also be used as a marketing tool)

EDUCATE SELLERSFor long term effect

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• Make sure you target key offenders and follow up on repeat offenders

• Prioritise sellers offering vast quantities (volume of stock and/or several listings)

• Prioritise sellers with a record of many sales (gold suppliers, diamond etc.)

• Focus on manufacturers and larger distributers

PRIORITISEHave a plan of action

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JOINT INVESTIGATIONS

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• Identify the key offenders – clearly profiting from your valuable brand

• Cross check sellers, marketplaces and social media profiles in order to find matching elements

• Determine damage to brand based on overall online activity of key individuals/groups

• Gather information about key offenders and use this as evidence in possible prosecution

KEY OFFENDERSIdentify the major targets

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JOIN FORCES WITH OFFLINE INVESTIGATORSFor maximized effect

• Covert use of names and addresses to interact with potential counterfeiters

• Covert test purchases carried out both at physical premises and online

• Effective use of open source research to identify nominals, addresses, aliases and assets

• Collaboration with the Intellectual Property Office’s Intelligence Hub to gather further evidence in criminal proceedings and basic financial checks

• Attendance at court to give evidence

SUCCESS STORY

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SGS HAD 2.5 MILLION REASONS TO BE SURETrust could go up in smoke

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