Beware the brand’s evil twin92

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BEWARE THE BRAND’S EVIL TWIN

As soon as your brand becomes successful, chances are it will be copied. There are shopping malls in the Far East which are entirely fully of counterfeit brands with their own almost exact copies of the genuine brands’ shops. If someone can fi nd a way to do what you do but cheaper,and take advantage of the work you’ve put into building your own brand identity, then they will.

If it’s any consolation, it only happens once you’re successful enough to attract their attention, but it’s irritating, it’s expensive to defend your intellectual property legally and it can damage your business.

The issue of counterfeiting is a complicated one but the shadow industry exists because people want a bargain, and they are prepared to convince themselves that anything with your logo on it has as much value as the real thing, even if it’s obviously not as well manufactured.

The idea It’s not just the Far East, although China is the world’s biggest source of counterfeits. Every country in the world makes fakes; the UK specialises in counterfeit – poisonous – vodka. Others fake prescription drugs. Wherever there are high prices and high demand, someone will produce the rip-off version. It can be top brands fi ghting each other. The unseemly scrap

between YSL and Louboutin over red shoe soles is an obvious challenge to Louboutin’s brand positioning, but IP law hasn’t helped him.

It can be the big guys going for the small guys. One huge UK clothing retailer was notorious for taking small designers’ ideas, mass producing them more cheaply, then, when the small companies complained, perhaps hoping for some fi nancial recognition of their contribution to profi ts, they’d get a letter back saying (in legal language), “Oh dear. We’re sorry about that, we didn’t realise. We’ve withdrawn the line.” In the meantime they’ve ruined the market for the original designers and cost them the legal fees too.

Usually, those big companies whose strategy is to take “inspiration” from wherever they can get it, without having to pay for it, are careful enough to make the copy obvious to the customer, but suffi ciently different to escape legal problems. That doesn’t make it right though, and it’s something that small, dynamic, creative brands constantly come up against, and sometimes they become so disillusioned that they give up entirely. At least you can trace the big companies’ sources.

The illegal counterfeiters are often impossible to fi nd, let alone sue. It’s the role of Trading Standards to fi nd them, seize their merchandise and prosecute them.

In practice • Register your trademarks (paid for) and defend your copyright (free). Read up on intellectual property law on the government’s IP law website, and consult an IP lawyer if you need to. Sometimes it is as simple as sending a legal letter to point out that your intellectual property is being infringed and to ask them to stop. • Be aware. Ask your customers to help you fi nd copies and counterfeits, and report them to Trading Standards, whether they turn up on market stalls or in supermarkets. • Have your own intellectual property strategy in place, and a lawyer ready to act. Decide who’s worth pursuing in court and who isn’t. Never do it on a point of principle if it’s going to cost you a lot of money you could use to develop new ideas.