MARQUES and Corsearch hosted a webinar on “Brand Protection in a Time of Turmoil: Future Strategies for the Defence of Your Brand” on 14 May.

The webinar was convened by Daniel Bennett of Corsearch and featured four in-house IP counsel: Petra Herkul, DSM, Dieuwerke van der Schalke, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Alper Demirci, Toyota Motor Europe and Susana Fernandez Martin, Inditex.

Impact on brands

Introducing the webinar, Daniel presented some research on the impact of COVID-19 on consumer behaviour, manufacturing, shipping of products etc and asked the question: what will be the impact on brands going forward? He predicted that online interaction and e-commerce will become even more important as a result of the pandemic.

Daniel also said that COVID-19 has already had an impact on brand protection. A rise has been reported in crimes such as financial fraud and cybercrime as well as counterfeiting across industries, with fake drugs and devices attracting media attention. A recent survey by WTR magazine found that 50% of respondents reported an increase in online counterfeiting.

Moreover, the counterfeiting challenge is likely to increase with the reopening of China and expected rebound in manufacturing. This could be “a potential disaster” for many Western brands, said Daniel, particularly as mature economies in lockdown are relying on e-commerce: “With overall revenues down, brands are fighting for every sale online.”

Focus on online

Most of the webinar consisted of a Q&A with the four in-house counsel participants, and there were also a few questions from the audience. The speakers addressed the impact of the pandemic on issues such as counterfeits, knockoffs, advertising campaigns, parts and accessories, domain names, parallel imports and ingredient branding.

They agreed that the closure of physical markets had led to a doubling of online efforts, in particular to create intelligence about threats and target them effectively. But they added that the pandemic had also prompted innovative ideas on doing business differently, including new means of selling products, flexible working and even donations such as free coffee.

Other topics discussed included: the importance of communicating the benefits of brand protection internally, and how best to do that; maximising the effectiveness of budgets; learning about online stores and platforms; and integrating online and offline channels.

Stay alert

Looking to the future, the speakers agreed that online commerce presents risks but were broadly optimistic that enforcement solutions would emerge, including through Blockchain and artificial intelligence. They also expressed hope that harmonisation would increase, and tools, technologies and partners would evolve to support brand protection.

Given the expected growth of online commerce, and new competition (including illicit competition), brand owners will need to stay alert: fraudsters can adapt quickly so brand owners must adapt too to ensure they can protect their most valuable assets.

Listen to a recording of the webinar here. Look out for announcements about future webinars on the MARQUES events page.