Protection and Safeguarding of IP
Forbes Richest Person 2023:
- Bernard Arnault & family
worth $211billion → they
control LVMH
- Exclusivity and
inaccessibility are two key features of luxury brands… if replicas flood the market…
- LV employs 250 lawyers to protect their 18,000 IP rights
Protection:
- Intellectual Property has protection at its core, aside from the economic right it prevents
unauthorised use, obtaining protection establishes ownership. IP must also be enforced; this
defends the asset.
- IP Enforcement defined as any legal action you take to maintain your IPR
- Why should IP be enforced?
o Ensure the investment secured in creating IP will lead to financial reward
o Financial reward supports further innovation
o Preserves legal validity of the IPR (i.e. stops further damage to your IP)
o Allows for claim of compensation if rights are infringed → can sue
o Protects the value of other IPR and/or the business
Stages of protecting and enforcing:
How IP gets developed
How you would enforce it
across different stages
Infringement:
, - Primary:
where
somebody takes
what you have → direct, blatant
- Secondary: if somebody uses something of yours to make something else → more implicit
- Indirect: somebody has bought or used something that has come from a product that is
based on the original IP
- Two ways of remedying infringements between primary and secondary
What do we mean by infringement?
- Patent infringement occurs when a legally protected patent is used by another person or
company without permission. Once expired the details of the patent are made public.
- Copyright violations occur when an unauthorized party recreates all or a portion of an
original work, such as a work of art, music, or a novel. The duplicated content need not be
an exact replica of the original to qualify as an infringement.
- Trademark infringement occurs when an unauthorized party uses a licensed trademark or
a mark resembling the licensed trademark. For example, a competitor might use a mark
similar to its rivals to disrupt business and attract their customer base. Also, businesses in
unrelated industries may use identical or similar marks in an effort to capitalize on other
companies' strong brand images.
- Trade secrets are often protected by NDAs. When a party to the agreement discloses all
or parts of a trade secret to uninterested parties, they have violated the agreement and
infringed upon the trade secret. It is possible to be guilty of trade secret infringement
when an NDA is not present.
Counterfeit:
- BURBERRY was awarded $100 million (£63 million) yesterday by a Manhattan Federal
court, which ruled that a network of Chinese internet counterfeiters had infringed upon the
brand's trademark. The group was found to have sold items bearing counterfeited
Burberry trademarks, WWD reports, including imitations of the brand's check and its
equestrian knight design.
IP Crime:
- In the digital era, IP crime is no longer simply a matter of hydraulic engineers and
stamping machines. It’s about online access to millions of pounds worth of revenue that
would otherwise have gone to creators and society at large.
Forbes Richest Person 2023:
- Bernard Arnault & family
worth $211billion → they
control LVMH
- Exclusivity and
inaccessibility are two key features of luxury brands… if replicas flood the market…
- LV employs 250 lawyers to protect their 18,000 IP rights
Protection:
- Intellectual Property has protection at its core, aside from the economic right it prevents
unauthorised use, obtaining protection establishes ownership. IP must also be enforced; this
defends the asset.
- IP Enforcement defined as any legal action you take to maintain your IPR
- Why should IP be enforced?
o Ensure the investment secured in creating IP will lead to financial reward
o Financial reward supports further innovation
o Preserves legal validity of the IPR (i.e. stops further damage to your IP)
o Allows for claim of compensation if rights are infringed → can sue
o Protects the value of other IPR and/or the business
Stages of protecting and enforcing:
How IP gets developed
How you would enforce it
across different stages
Infringement:
, - Primary:
where
somebody takes
what you have → direct, blatant
- Secondary: if somebody uses something of yours to make something else → more implicit
- Indirect: somebody has bought or used something that has come from a product that is
based on the original IP
- Two ways of remedying infringements between primary and secondary
What do we mean by infringement?
- Patent infringement occurs when a legally protected patent is used by another person or
company without permission. Once expired the details of the patent are made public.
- Copyright violations occur when an unauthorized party recreates all or a portion of an
original work, such as a work of art, music, or a novel. The duplicated content need not be
an exact replica of the original to qualify as an infringement.
- Trademark infringement occurs when an unauthorized party uses a licensed trademark or
a mark resembling the licensed trademark. For example, a competitor might use a mark
similar to its rivals to disrupt business and attract their customer base. Also, businesses in
unrelated industries may use identical or similar marks in an effort to capitalize on other
companies' strong brand images.
- Trade secrets are often protected by NDAs. When a party to the agreement discloses all
or parts of a trade secret to uninterested parties, they have violated the agreement and
infringed upon the trade secret. It is possible to be guilty of trade secret infringement
when an NDA is not present.
Counterfeit:
- BURBERRY was awarded $100 million (£63 million) yesterday by a Manhattan Federal
court, which ruled that a network of Chinese internet counterfeiters had infringed upon the
brand's trademark. The group was found to have sold items bearing counterfeited
Burberry trademarks, WWD reports, including imitations of the brand's check and its
equestrian knight design.
IP Crime:
- In the digital era, IP crime is no longer simply a matter of hydraulic engineers and
stamping machines. It’s about online access to millions of pounds worth of revenue that
would otherwise have gone to creators and society at large.
