Publications | Service Area Brochures | Anti-counterfeiting
Anti-counterfeiting
Not all dedicated followers of fashion are as fickle as they could be about matters of the genuine article.
Counterfeit products in the marketplace, once a small annoyance and seen by some brand owners as flattery, are now seriously impacting on the sales of genuine products. Today the quality of the counterfeits are so good that it is often hard even for the brand owners to pick the fakes. Counterfeits are not just sold by backyard operators, they are sold by apparently legitimate retailers and of course they are all over the internet! It is no longer the case that consumers know they are buying a fake.
Almost every kind of product is prone to counterfeiting: clothing, perfumes, sporting goods, sunglasses, watches, cigarettes, computer games, CDs, DVDs – even pharmaceuticals. In fact an estimated 5% to 8% of all goods and services sold world-wide today are counterfeit.
Middletons’ Anti-Counterfeiting Program aims at attacking the supply of counterfeit goods at the border and then seeks to deter traders buying or importing counterfeit goods. The program operates on 3 levels – a Customs program to ensure that product is seized at the border, a market watch program conducted by investigators, and legal support to enforce rights and pursue financial recoveries.
We train and liaise with Australian Customs officers to ensure that counterfeit goods are seized and not released to the importers. Training of Customs staff to determine genuine product from counterfeit product is an important part of the program to ensure that Customs staff know how to spot a fake.
The market watch program is conducted by investigators at all major markets around Australia and other retailers to identify traders selling fake goods and to gain information to catch the bigger fish.
Importers and traders selling counterfeit goods, whether at markets, wholesale or retail level, are sent demand letters, undertakings are obtained and counterfeit stock is seized and destroyed. In most cases financial settlements are entered into with the infringers and the aim of the program is for the infringers to pay for the cost of the program. Search and seizure orders are also used where appropriate on larger shipments to obtain information used to catch other offenders and to recover damages and more counterfeit product.
In addition to specific anti-counterfeiting measures, Middletons has developed ways to protect against look alike or copy products. We know there is more to protect than just your brand. The success and distinctive look of your products is the result of much research, trial and error and advertising expenditure. We appreciate how logos and shapes or colours of products become unique attributes of your brand and we can provide advice about how to best protect these features through trade mark registrations. Signature products can also be protected as trade marks.
The appearance of your goods themselves are often where the value in the product lies, and where this appearance is unique, design protection is possible. By training your staff to prepare and file design registration applications, we ensure your costs are kept at a minimum.
Committed to protecting your rights, Middletons’ legal team is always commercially focused and attuned to the practical issues in your industry. We’re equally dedicated to tailoring effective anti-counterfeiting programs that suit the needs of each individual client, not ours.
