In today’s increasingly digital world, one major challenge that brand owners face is tackling the infringement of their brands, and protecting their identity and reputation, online. From tackling counterfeits and infringing domain names, to identifying imitation websites and social media pages, this challenge can seem pervasive and overwhelming. 

While the rise of ecommerce and social media has created many opportunities for businesses, it has simultaneously increased the risk of infringement and other Intellectual Property crimes, such as counterfeiting. Therefore, it is imperative that businesses take a proactive approach to safeguard their brands online.  

An important step that businesses should take to protect their brands online is to ensure that they register their trade marks in their key territories. A registered trade mark confers on brand owners a negative right to exclude third parties from using their trade mark, or a confusingly similar version, without their consent. Whilst it is not compulsory to register a trade mark, it is strongly recommended: enforcing unregistered rights in the UK, on the grounds of passing off, is more difficult and expensive than enforcing registered rights. Also, some countries operate a first to file system, where rights to a trade mark are given to the party that applies to register it first. 

Once the trade mark is registered, actively monitoring the online landscape for unauthorised uses is crucial. This includes monitoring websites, social media platforms, and other online marketplaces for any confusingly similar trade marks. 

A helpful tool for monitoring purposes is a trade mark watching service, which filters through recently filed and published trade mark applications, identifying any trade marks that are identical or similar, and that cover identical or similar goods and services. Brand owners can then review the disclosures and take swift action against third parties, if necessary. Crucially, a watching service can sometimes enable a brand owner to identify a potential infringement before the third party has commenced use, and in turn neutralise the infringement risk at an early stage. 

Also, brand protection services are another helpful tool for identifying infringements online. These services scrape the Internet for copycat and counterfeit products. They can also identify domain name infringements, as well as imitation social media profiles, among other infringements. Brand owners can then review these disclosures, and take remedial action where appropriate, protecting revenue and reputation. Often, this remedial action can involve filing an online takedown request with the ecommerce platforms in question. Indeed, many ecommerce platforms (including Amazon and eBay) and many social media platforms (including Facebook and Instagram) provide tools for dealing with such infringements. 

In summary, it is important for businesses to ensure that their trade marks are protected, and once protected, that they have a clear strategy for tackling online infringements. There are a range of sophisticated software tools that can assist brand owners in this aim. Boult can help you implement an enforcement strategy that fits your business needs and budget. For further information, please contact us at boult@boult.com.