Why choose the Actuate IP anti-counterfeiting team?
As skilled and hard nosed litigators, we tailor our anti-counterfeiting programs to be value based, fixed priced, streamlined and cost effective. Our approach is results driven recognising the damage counterfeits do for genuine brand owners. We have acted for brands like Unilever and Dickies.
Anti-counterfeiting is the practice of using Australia’s IP enforcement laws to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods in the marketplace by seizing them at the border upon importation and pursuing traders who sell them, including wholesalers, retailers and on-line traders.
At Actuate IP, we recognise that having to take anti-counterfeiting measures is an unwanted cost of doing business for many IP owners. We have recently acted for a multinational brand owner who is fighting to remove counterfeits of one of its extremely popular products from the Australian market. As in that instance, we tailor our anti-counterfeiting programs so that they are inexpensive and streamlined but also in tune with the individual business needs of each IP owner. In other words, we don’t impose over-priced ‘sausage machine’ anti-counterfeiting services on our clients.
By way of example, the preparation of initial letters of demand and follow-up work are charged at a single low-cost fixed fee. In the event of litigation, we work with our clients to prepare a fixed price litigation model – that we stick to. At the back end, we also take a tough approach to recovering legal costs from infringers. As part of our package, we provide our clients with practical and strategic advice and manage enforcement campaigns by reporting at times that are convenient to busy instructors. We also offer low-cost fixed fees for managing and reporting on seizures made by the Australian Customs Service under a trade mark or copyright ‘Notices of Objection’. We also have a valuable network of excellent private investigators and barristers who know the field inside out.
What is counterfeiting?
Recent years have witnessed an explosion in the popularity of counterfeit goods. It is estimated that counterfeits account for about $600 billion in global trade every year – or between 5% and 7% of the world’s economy – and that most of the proceeds go to organised criminals.
Counterfeiting is a serious problem and our lawyers at Actuate IP are specialists in assisting IP owners to tackle the issue in Australia.
Counterfeit goods are ‘fakes’ or ‘knock offs’ that imitate popular products illegally. Counterfeits are almost always of inferior quality and in many instances they are also dangerous – particularly in the case of drugs, infant formula, personal care products and cosmetics, mechanical products such as car parts and battery-powered products such as mobile phones.
Other industries affected by counterfeiting include entertainment, fashion, luxury goods and sporting merchandise.
In all cases, counterfeit products damage the reputations of legitimate brand owners, deprive them of income and, in turn, put jobs at risks and deprive governments of tax revenue.
HOW CAN ACTUATE IP ASSIST?
It is vital that you obtain accurate, specialist advice on how best to deal with trade mark and counterfeit disputes tailored for your particular circumstances. Actuate IP will work with you to to develop a comprehensive program that will stamp out counterfeiting activities and the resulting damage it is causing your business. As a starting point we will invest time at the outset to understand the nature of your dispute and how it relates to your business and what your business wants to achieve from the dispute – whether you are enforcing your rights or defending claims of infringement made by another business against you. With this understanding we will provide you with a detailed and considered Fixed Fee Proposal that provides you with initial recommendations and fixed fee options on how to approach the dispute in a way that will achieve the right outcome for you. You can then decide whether our firm will be the right fit for your business.