Articles

A single smartphone contains over 10 billion semiconductor transistors. Alongside phones and laptops, transistors (or more broadly, integrated circuits or “chips”) are increasingly appearing in other products, from TVs, to cars, to fridges, as they get “smarter”. Of course, demand for chips is also rapidly growing for datacentres to enable artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.

A company’s brand can often be its most powerful and valuable asset, and a solid brand identity can positively influence consumer choice by making products or services more attractive, enabling brand owners to increase revenue.

The key to having strong protection in place for your brand starts with the selection of the brand. The more distinctive your brand is, the stronger your exclusivity to that brand will be.

Once a new brand or product has been chosen and designed, it is important to consider protecting its associated IP. In this chapter, we will discuss which aspects of the brand or product can be protected with IP, which forms of IP protection are appropriate, and how to put this in place to maximise protection against counterfeits.

EUIPO research estimates that the clothing industry lost around EUR 12 billion of revenue as an annual average in 2018-2021 because of counterfeiting, equivalent to 5.2% of all clothing sales in the EU market.

Whilst the low cost of a counterfeit vehicle part might be attractive to customers, the stakes could not be higher due to the potential safety issues presented by low quality or faulty fake parts.

Technology has revolutionised the market landscape, enabling brands to connect with consumers in innovative ways and more effectively than ever before. This affects purchasing behaviours and customers can now engage with brands, products and services through a dynamic range of channels.

A strong brand is easier to both protect and enforce and by using combinations of different IP rights, companies can more effectively protect their most valuable brand assets across different markets.