The Global Legal Post today launches a comparative jurisdictional guide to help brands combat counterfeiting as trade in fake goods continues to proliferate.
 
The online resource, under the Law Over Borders brand, is edited by Lorne M. Lipkus, founding partner at Toronto firm Kestenberg Siegal Lipkus and an expert on all aspects of anti-counterfeiting enforcement throughout Canada.
 
The guide provides answers and insight into how businesses can protect their brands across a wide range of jurisdictions in a fast-moving environment in which counterfeiters are adopting ever-more sophisticated methods of avoiding detection.
 
The extent of the problem is highlighted by the team from US chapter author Epstein Drangel, who noted: ‘In 2020, United States Customs and Border Protection reported that 26,503 shipments containing counterfeit goods were seized. The total estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price of the seized goods, had they been genuine, was over $1.3 billion.’
 
The OECD and EUIPO, meanwhile, estimate that counterfeit and pirated goods accounted for 5.8% of all products entering the EU in 2019 with a value of €119bn.
 
The guide has sections on criminal prosecution and civil enforcement, border enforcement, online anti-counterfeiting enforcement strategies, domain names and social media. 
 
And it specifically addresses the challenges posed by the increase in consumers’ reliance on e-commerce during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the measures being taken by governments in response.
 
The easy-to-use digital format allows readers to quickly assess the legal frameworks of different jurisdictions by comparing contributing authors’ answers to a series of questions carefully framed to cover key legal issues.  
 
Industry experts also provide advice about cross-border management and engaging with relevant, anti-counterfeiting issues relating to e-sports and emerging techniques utilising current open-source intelligence.

The online guide will be regularly updated by its contributors while the resulting book will be launched at the Anti-Counterfeiting World Law Summit, which is chaired by Louise Butler, global head of brand protection at Diageo, and is being held in London on 18 October. 

Read online or buy the Law Over Borders Luxury Law and Fashion Law guides