MARQUES
strategies, and Wednesday’s proceedings will end with a debate on IP’s relationship with anti- counterfeiting and piracy measures.
“One of the issues trademark owners have to address is the public disquiet if IP owners are seen to stretch the boundaries of what
they
are trying to enforce at a level that the public perceives to be unreasonable,” says Smyth.
“For example, if someone goes on holiday and buys a counterfeit product, they don’t expect to have it seized from their luggage on their return. Tere’s a belief that enforcement shouldn’t occur at a private level, because it’s intrusive.
“In countries where counterfeiting can lead to severe and even excessive criminal sanctions, the public may feel it’s the trademark owner seeking to impose these sanctions and not the judicial system which is beyond brand owners’ control.”
Plain packaging
On Tursday, aſter an update on this year’s WIPO activities, chair of MARQUES programming team Willem Leppink and other speakers will
look at retailers’ rights when reselling genuine goods. Tis will be followed by a review of the latest gTLD developments and a choice of workshops on evidence collection, the challenges of protecting well-known brands, indigenous peoples’ rights and the introduction of plain tobacco packaging.
From December, Australia will become the first country to sell cigarettes in plain olive packets, without logos and adorned with graphic health warnings. Manufacturers British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris and JTI appealed the decision, arguing it would destroy the value of their trademarks without compensation but in July, Australia’s high court dismissed the companies’ complaint. Similar measures are being considered in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, China, France, India, South Africa, Norway and Uruguay.
“Generally speaking, trademark owners protective of any dilution of
are their ability to
distinguish their products from those of their competitors, so companies are not just concerned about being able to put trademarks on their product, but the implications if the visual impact of their brand is lost in relation to merchandise,” Smyth explains.
“Tis could be the cause célèbre and in the future,
similar directives could be applied to
alcohol, or any product that is perceived to be bad for your health. So there has to be a debate on whether trademark owners generally wish to support tobacco trademark owners on the issue as a matter of principle, and it remains to be seen how this will play out.”
Annual updates
On Friday, MARQUES will hold its annual general meeting, which will be followed by updates on OHIM and CJEU case law, as well as the annual Lewis Gaze Memorial Scholarship presentation, an award offered to students demonstrating outstanding achievement in IP law, in memory of MARQUES’s first chairman.
Te conference will then be officially closed by Varricchio, and Smyth hopes that come Friday, brand owners and their representatives will be better informed and equipped to deal with 2013’s IP challenges. “A lot of harmonisation and divergence has still to take place,” he says, “and brand owners must be careful to assert their rights in a manner which will not be counterproductive in the long run. Hopefully,
this year’s conference will help trademark owners and practitioners achieve this.”
www.worldipreview.com
World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2012
93
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