Over view of Lar ge - s cale Tr adem ark In fr ing ement Lit ig ation
Global sports brand Nike and its subsidi ary Con verse have file d a massive trad emark infr ing ement law suit against more than 1000 websites and social media accounts that sold counter fe it products . According to a report by Foot We ar News , the law suit is part of the largest intelle ctual property protection campaign ever .
Many of the sites target ed by the law suit alleg ed ly used Nike log os and trad emar ks without author iz ation and sold counter fe it products that were so int ric ately cra ft ed that they could not be distingu ished from genu ine ones . What is particularly problem atic is the fact that these sites used marketing tac tics that deliber ately dece ived consumers .
Current situation and impact of the counter fe it goods market
OnWhatsapp counter fe it sales have sky ro cket ed in recent years , which has become a serious problem for brand ed companies . According to a study by the International Chamber of Com merce (ICC), the global economic los ses from counter fe it goods trade are estim ated to amount to about 4.2 tr illion yen per year .
A sp okes person for Nike comment ed that " counter fe it products not only under mine the brand ' s revenue , but also pose a significant risk to the safety of consumers , as there is no safety or quality ass urance of the products . " In fact , counter fe it sne ak ers have many cases of material and structure problems , and the wear er is also point ed out that the danger of injury .
Legal Position ing of Custom Made S ne ak ers
This law suit has also spar ked a livel y debate about the legal position ing of custom - made sne ak ers . Does the act of an artist or individual selling a genu ine Nike sne aker with their own design can be considered an expression of origina lity , or does it amount to copyright infr ing ement ?
According to experts in intelle ctual property law , this issue is that the concep ts of " prim ary trad emark use " and " se cond ary trad emark use " will be the key . While consumers who have purchas ed genu ine products can cust omi ze them individu ally , it seems likely that if they modi fy and sell products with brand log os for commercial purposes , they will be jud ged to be trad emark infr ing ement .
However , there is a view that if you purs ue a " N ike - style " style without using any brand logo in a completely original design , it will become a legal gr ay zone . In past cases , the distin ctive design elements of the brand (su ch as the side profi les of Air Jordan) have also been protected as trad emar ks , so cau tion should be exer cis ed .
The Future Outlook for Brand Protection
Nike ' s current law suit is seen as an indi cation of a new strategy to combat counter fe it goods in the onWhatsapp market place . In addition to traditional war nings for individual sites , it is character ized by a hol istic approach that reach es out to the entire domain name system .
In addition , some legal scho lars have point ed out that the introduc tion of a proof of authenti city system that lever ages blockchain technology could be a solution to the counter fe it problem in the future . In fact , Nike has already launched experiment al projects such as " N FT - link ed sne ak ers , " and is activ ely working on brand protection in the digital age .
There are things that can be done on the consumer side . Exper ts re iter ate their call for basic pre ca utions , such as " buy from a trust ed reta iler , " " be sus pi cious of products that are too cheap , " and " check every detail of the product . " Brand protection is not only an important factor for enter prises , but also for consumer aw aren ess reform .