Anti-counterfeiting

The threat faced by successful brands from counterfeiters is substantial and growing. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce it now accounts for 5-7% of world trade being approximately $660 billion per year and is increasing.

The aim of the counterfeiter is simply to make money. Our aim is to deter and prevent them from counterfeiting our clients’ products.

Left unchecked, counterfeiters can have a devastating effect upon a brand, not just in terms of lost sales and revenue, but also in terms of an erosion of consumer confidence such that the brand no longer holds the caché it once did.

At Clarke Willmott we have a dedicated Anti-Counterfeiting team which have many years of experience in advising brands, including many famous names, on implementing anti-counterfeiting strategies both in the UK and internationally. We are active members of the Anti-Counterfeiting Group and our clients include computer software and hardware companies, clothing and fashion brands, electrical product manufacturers, toy companies and media organisations. In the last twelve months, through our network of affiliated law firms, we have advised on matters in Egypt, Turkey, Russia, China, UAE, Saudi Arabia, India and matters across the EU. Indeed our experience in this area was recognised by the UK Intellectual Property Office when our client Jemella/ghd was used as a case study of “good practice” in the 2011 IPO IP Crime Group Supply Chain Toolkit report and noted as being a“very successful brand with a robust enforcement policy”. In the last 12 months we have assisted clients in seizures of over £30m worth of counterfeit products.

We also have experience in advising upon private prosecutions which have a number of advantages over civil actions not least the ability for the brand owner to recover its costs from central funds and the possibility of a custodial sentence for the infringer.

Furthermore, we recognise that any programme operated by a brand needs to be cost effective and as such, where possible, we use state enforcement authorities to assist our clients in the enforcement of their rights. Moreover, we have an enviable track record in recovering monies from counterfeiters themselves in order to fund our clients’ anti-counterfeiting programmes. Such is our confidence in this area we offer some programmes at no cost to our clients.

Roy Crozier leads the Anti-Counterfeiting team and is ranked in Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners who stated that his “anti-counterfeiting knowledge is exceptional”.

Still remain to be convinced? Please give us a call and if we still cannot convince you as to why you should instruct us, we will arrange for you to speak to one of our existing clients who will no doubt be able to do so.