CAR PARTS Monitoring imports and exports
According to the European Union’s 2010 Report on Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights, Turkey is one of the top five countries of origin for infringing products. Tis report shows that customs is one of the most important points at which the import or export of counterfeit products can be prevented. Since the beginning of its anti- counterfeiting programme, Toyota has registered its trademarks before customs and evaluated each notification received from the customs authority. Naturally, receiving a notification from customs does not mean that the products are definitely counterfeit. In most cases, the products did not bear any trademark or were parallel imports. However, careful evaluation of all notices is important when considering the possibility to prevent hundred of products from passing through customs.
Cease and desist letters
It is almost impossible (and prohibitively expensive) to initiate legal or criminal actions against every shop that sells counterfeit products or uses a certain trademark on its signboard or website. Instead, the trademark owner might prefer sending cease and desist letters to shop owners who are committing more minor trademark violations. Tis allows trademark owners to make their presence felt.
Aſter completion of the intense seizure period, Toyota proceeded with sending high volumes of cease and desist letters to hundreds of shop owners. Aſter these letters, many shops removed their signboards bearing the Toyota trademark. Undoubtedly, the letters have been a sign of Toyota’s presence in the counterfeit market and reduced counterfeit product numbers.
Professional associations
Within the Turkish market, it is not possible to assume that every counterfeiter is aware of the laws against counterfeiting. While large manufacturers and distributors are well aware of the law and seek to exploit it, there is a small contingent of counterfeiters who do not know the rights granted to a trademark owner, or the legal and criminal consequences of manufacturing or selling counterfeit products. Raising awareness in this group is also important in the fight against counterfeiting.
In order to reach more possible counterfeiters, Toyota not only contacted professional associations within the automotive and spare part industry, but also sent informative letters to professional associations within the packaging and publishing sector which manufacture packages for counterfeiters. Toyota placed advertisements in magazines and publications
“DURING THE RAID IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT THE COMPANY WAS IMPORTING UNMARKED PRODUCTS AND WORKING WITH A PACKAGING COMPANY TO MANUFACTURE IDENTICAL PACKAGING FOR WELL-KNOWN AUTOMOBILE BRANDS.”
for the automotive or packaging industry to raise awareness among the companies working in these sectors.
Training customs and other public organisations
Since customs is an important point for combating counterfeit products, educating customs officers about trademark law and companies’ trademarks is an important investment.
Customs officers might pay less attention to trademark issues due to their busy schedule and the time-sensitive nature of their jobs. To overcome this risk, customs officers should be educated and exposed to a company’s trademark. By building awareness of counterfeiting, the officers will notice counterfeit products and inform trademark owners who have registered before the customs authority.
Internet monitoring
Internet monitoring has become increasingly important in the last 10 years, as counterfeiters sell not only clothing, designer bags and fragrances online, but also automobile spare parts, tyres, car accessories, and many other articles bearing automobile brands (such as key holders or lighters). Since most of these counterfeiters do not have a registered company or a valid address, investigation in the field will not reveal these counterfeiters.
Toyota continuously monitored online marketplaces, relevant databases and websites, and sent cease and desist letters to the counterfeiters. Toyota also joined eBay’s verified owners’ programme and reported the listings that infringed its rights.
Counterfeit Toyota products have significantly decreased in the Turkish market as a result of
48 World Intellectual Property Review May/June 2012
this programme. It is difficult to find a shop to target for a seizure these days, and shop owners realise that Toyota will not let any third party sell counterfeit products in the market. More importantly, by the end of the fiſth year most of the actors in the spare part and repair service industry have learned the consequences of selling counterfeit products, and understand that it is defined as a crime in Turkish trademark law.
Other trademark owners can experience the same results by implementing customised, long- term strategic plans to combat the counterfeit market in Turkey. Terefore, trademark owners should not hesitate to initiate their own fight against counterfeiters. It might be costly and time-consuming to undertake a comprehensive and effective strategy, but once the counterfeit products start coming off the market, the initial expense will be more than mitigated by recaptured earnings. n
Isik Ozdogan is a partner at Moroglu Arseven. She can be contacted at:
iozdogan@morogluarseven.av.tr
Ezgi Baklaci is a senior associate at Moroglu Arseven. She can be contacted at:
ebaklaci@morogluarseven.av.tr
Isik Ozdogan initiated the IP department at Moroglu Arseven in 2009, prior to which she was a founding partner at another Turkish IP services firm. She handles all IP matters including trademarks, patents, anti- counterfeiting, litigation, domain names, utility models, and industrial designs. She is also a committee member of various IP organisations such as INTA, Marques and ECTA.
Ezgi Baklaci has been working at Moroglu Arseven for five years. She handles the IP portfolios of international clients for all aspects of IP law. She also implements anti-counterfeiting strategies for clients in the luxury goods, pharmaceutical, and automotive sectors, among others.
www.worldipreview.com
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