Posts Tagged: "brand protection"

Fashion law has become as diverse, complex and global as the fashion industry itself. Fashion law can be analogized to entertainment, art or sports law, in that it is circumscribed by the nature of a particular industry, but is comprised of many distinct substantive practice areas of law. One way to describe fashion law is to say that it is the body of law and legal principles that governs the relationships among the various participants in the fashion industry, the relationships between such participants and the consumer, and the relationship between such participants and various governmental entities.

Recently Inc.com published an article titled The Art and Science of Corporate Icons, which discusses Skeeter the squirrel, who is apparently the only squirrel in the world allergic to nuts. Skeeter is also the cartoon mascot for Skeeter Snacks, a line of nut-free cookies created by Dave Leyrer and Pete Najarian, whose target audience is parents with children who have allergies to nuts. The Inc.com article, discussed the creation of Skeeter from the drawing board to the finished product, including what aspects of this critter they wanted to depict their brand. They wanted the product to not only be affordable and appealing to kids but also to show that they were “…more playful than other allergen-free brands.”

The white paper outlines just how these counterfeit parts are entering the global supply chains. Even though there are government regulations and precautionary measures taken by the industry, there seems to be a growing problem with counterfeit parts that can cause damage and even fatalities. The introduction of the whitepaper claims: “The complex and distributed nature of supply chains has created vulnerabilities for companies and organizations. Governments and regulations can only go so far. As such, industry can benefit from taking a more proactive approach to protecting the supply chain from counterfeit products and pirated materials.”

Criminals on all levels — from opportunistic, small-time thieves to major drug cartels — are finding that the penalties for intellectual property crimes pale in comparison to the penalties they would receive for trafficking drugs and engaging in other illicit activities. At the same time, the profit margin for counterfeit software, as well as for other counterfeit goods, is extremely high. So the combination of great riches, relatively low penalties and a low likelihood of being caught and you can see why criminal enterprises, including terrorist networks, are becoming major players in the counterfeit software black-market.

On January 12, 2012, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, more commonly known simply as ICANN, began accepting applications for new gTLDs. Until March 29, 2011, entrepreneurs, businesses, governments and communities around the world can apply to introduce and operate a generic Top-Level Domain of their own choosing. Currently there are approximately two dozen gTLDs, but as the result of ICANN’s decision to expand the number of gTLDs there could be hundreds in the not too distant future.