ANTI-COUNTERFEITING
“A RECENT STUDY SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF MEXICO SHOWED THAT AN ESTIMATED 88 PERCENT OF THE MEXICAN POPULATION HAS ACQUIRED A PIRATED AND/ OR COUNTERFEIT PRODUCT.”
require common-sense updates of all existing legislation, particularly the laws and regulations pertaining to Internet content, and the adaptation of IP rights to the business models on the Internet, without criminalising its use.
It is a matter of fact that in some countries most consumers accept and buy counterfeited items. For example, a recent study sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico showed that an estimated 88 percent of the Mexican population has acquired, at least once, a pirated and/or counterfeited product. People involved in counterfeiting usually regard their activities as a business and they are willing to devote their resources to it only as long as they perceive that their investment is going to be, to a certain degree, profitable and relatively risk-free.
In light of the above, the principal objective, as well as the legal means to tackle this problem, will depend on the specific nature of each online product. Legal advice from IP attorneys may suggest practical measures to tackle IP rights violations.
and its contents. All of this translates into the conviction that any possible solution to confront IP piracy on the Internet must conform to existing legislation and to the reality of the legal use of the Internet.
Tis approach is complicated, however, because it is obvious that all the rights, duties and obligations of intellectual rights owners and of Internet users must be harmonised; this will
www.worldipreview.com
In addition to specialist advice, there are several actions available that should be taken when planning a cost-effective strategy to enforce and protect IP rights. Brand owners should:
copyright;
websites;
auction sites;
Xavier Hadad Rojas is part of the firm’s litigation area, specialising in matters related to
IP, anti-counterfeiting and
domain names. He obtained his law degree in 2005 from La Salle University, Mexico. Hadad Rojas has postgraduate studies in IP from the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico and the World Intellectual Property Organization. He is member of the Mexican Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AMPPI) and of the Mexican Bar (Colegio de Abogados).
Trademarks Brands and the Internet Volume 1, Issue 2 53
campaigns;
authorised or affiliated with a trademark; and
trademarks in their domain names.
Tese actions will help the IP attorneys in their quest to combat counterfeiting, by obtaining a considerable amount of information on counterfeit activity that can be prioritised to highlight the most prolific offenders.
Although there are different ways to monitor the existence of counterfeit products available online, the real problem is that the Internet is still a frontier, in that laws that govern it are still being created and refined. In an ideal scenario, there should be laws (and the legal authority to enforce them) regulating this phenomenon and providing clear and uncontested legal actions that give IP attorneys the necessary legal grounds to combat and tackle it. Online piracy constitutes a major problem not only for IP rights owners but for the consumers who acquire the pirated goods.
Xavier Hadad Rojas is an associate of Uhthoff, Gomez Vega & Uhthoff. He can be contacted at:
xhadad@uhthoff.com.mx
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