Indo-Pacific Judicial Colloquium on Intellectual Property, Innovation, and Technology
July 25-27, 2023, Alexandria, VA
Hosted by the USPTO
Marc Miller, IACC's SVP - Corporate Strategy spoke to 130+ foreign and U.S. judges, legal academics, IP litigators and experts on "Challenges for Rightsholders and Consumers in the Global Marketplace and Online Environment".
USPTO's Global Intellectual Property Academy and U.S. Foreign Service Institute - IP Training for New Diplomats
July 24-26, 2023, Alexandria, VA
Hosted by the USPTO
Travis Johnson, IACC's VP - Legislative Affairs spoke on the panel "What Do U.S. Businesses Need From Us”. The three-day program trained new U.S. State Department foreign service officers on how to issue spot, triage, and advocate for IP issues and policy priorities while serving overseas – including how to work with key U.S. industry groups.
USPTO's Future of Anti-Counterfeiting Event - Roundtables
October 3, 2023, Alexandria, VA
Hosted by the USPTO
Travis Johnson, IACC's VP - Legislative Affairs spoke about counterfeiting issues brands face to officials from the USPTO, Department of Commerce, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), State Department, Office of the IP Enforcement Coordinator, among other government authorities.
QBPC's Annual Top 10 Cases in IP Protection
The IACC collaborates with associations around the world in our shared goal to combat counterfeiting and piracy. We highlight the important work of the Quality Brands Protection Committee (QBPC) to advance IP protection in China. In this newsletter, we share QBPC's Top 10 Cases in IP Protection program below. We congratulate the Chinese authorities who have been nominated and selected for their efforts to protect IP.
(Provided by the QBPC)
The selection of QBPC Annual Top 10 Cases in IP Protection is an important event for QBPC as well as the IPR industry. This program have big influence within the IP community, which not just helps IPR owners to share and learn best practice, but also provide reference for the IP legal system’s reform
A total of 58 cases were nominated by QBPC member companies in the 2022-2023 QBPC Annual Top 10 Cases selection activity, among which 31 cases were eventually selected in three categories (criminal, civil and administrative) respectively. These cases come from various industries including pharmaceutical, food and beverage industry, daily necessities, pesticides and agricultural machinery, electrical and service industry.
The Top 10 cases involve many cutting-edge issues on IP protection, such as refurbished goods, cross-border infringement, malicious and undue IP protection, cross-class trademark protection, conflict of rights between name rights and trademark rights, the burden of proof in the profitsof infringement, unfair competition and so on. The decisions and judgments are mostly typical and instructive, which has a strong demonstration effect and breakthrough progress on future IP enforcement and judicial practice.
Below is a snapshot of the IACC’s policy advocacy efforts. For more details, please view the legislative update provided by Travis Johnson on Monday, October 30th.
August
IP Protection in Mexico - On August 8th, IACC VP for Legislative Affairs, Travis Johnson, joined stakeholders from the copyright industries in a roundtable discussion with representatives from Mexico’s Institute for Industrial Property (IMPI) to highlight rights-holders’ priorities and concerns related to IP protection and enforcement in Mexico. The IACC has recommended Mexico’s inclusion on USTR’s Special 301 Watch List in countless years past, and as one of our largest trading partners, the country remains a key concern for rights-holders across many product sectors.
“Future of Anti-counterfeiting and Anti-piracy” - The IACC filed comments in response to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s “Future of Anti-counterfeiting and Anti-piracy” initiative. IACC members raised the following key areas: data sharing among public and private sector; modernization of legislation and regulations to respond to marketplace trends; more tools for brands and small businesses; increased public awareness and consumer education; and investment in specialized resources to assist legitimate businesses. Read the IACC’s submission.
September
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 – We’ve continued to advocate for the inclusion of provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act by supporting language proposed by Senators Grassley and Hassan that would clarify and expand CBP’s ability to share intelligence with relevant stakeholders in combatting illicit shipments. The IACC led a group of 15 associations representing IP owners urging the House and Senate to incorporate those provisions in the final text of the NDAA to be finalized in conference between the two houses.
U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator - We were pleased to see progress on the nomination by President Biden of Deborah Robinson as his Administration’s Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator. We’re hopeful that Robinson will be confirmed before the end of the calendar year.
October
IP Roundtables by the USPTO - The IACC joined numerous members and other stakeholders for a series of roundtables hosted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in connection with the agency’s above-mentioned “Future of Anti-counterfeiting”.
SHOP SAFE Act - The Senate Judiciary Committee’s IP Subcommittee held a hearing on the recently re-introduced SHOP SAFE Act, which incorporated a range of feedback from stakeholders. The SHOP SAFE Act enumerates a range of best practices to combat the sale of counterfeit goods in e-commerce, and opens the door to claims of secondary liability against platforms who fail to take appropriate steps to police third-party sellers.
USTR’s Annual Notorious Markets Review - On October 6th, the IACC filed comments with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in response to a request for input for USTR’s annual Notorious Markets review. The IACC’s submission highlighted concerns voiced by rights-holders in connection with nearly two dozen brick and mortar marketplaces around the world, in addition to ten international e-commerce platforms. USTR is currently reviewing stakeholders’ comments, as well as rebuttal comments offered by platform operators. The final report by USTR is expected to be published in early 2024.
If you have questions, please contact Travis Johnson directly at tjohnson@iacc.org.
Ad opportunities in our newsletters are available and are limited to IACC members. Bulk pricing available. Contact Dawn Sgarlata at dsgarlata@iacc.org.
We're Growing the IACC
Jacob Burkhart will join the IACC in November 2023 as an Analyst for the IACC-Amazon Program. He brings to the IACC an interdisciplinary background in training, cybersecurity, and research. He is also a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.
We are also looking to hire additional Program Analysts so click the image below for more information.
UPCOMING EVENTS AND TRAININGS
IACC Annual Conference
May 13-15, 2024 - Orlando, FL
Early-bird registration is open! We look forward to welcoming back brands, government and top IP professionals to engage, collaborate and network with each other.
(A new section in our SME Brand Protection Toolkit)
In our last newsletter, we announced this new section in our SME Brand Protection Toolkit - Tips for IP Protection in China, provided by Heng Li, Counsel, Senior Analyst at IACC. We will continue to highlight new topics in each Quarterly Newsletter. For this quarter, we are focusing on the trademark process in China.
Trademark Registration in China
Trademarks are territorial intellectual property rights, with a separate presence in each sovereign territory where they are registered or legally recognized. To safeguard the integrity of your brand identity in the Chinese market, it is crucial to register your trademark in China for protection.
We are excited to include this Resource Section in our Quarterly Newsletter where we share interesting insights, research studies, white papers and other thought pieces from our members around the world. Members interested in submitting relevant material for our next newsletter should contact Dawn Sgarlata at dsgarlata@iacc.org.
Disclaimer: The IACC is providing these links as a courtesy to our members; the IACC has not independently verified any claims or assertions contained therein. Further, the views expressed in each of the linked resources are those of the respective authors, and their inclusion should not be interpreted as an endorsement by the IACC.
The luxury watch market is under constant attack from sophisticated counterfeiters. This research report looks into the illicit competitors methods which enable them to maintain a consistent supply of 'replica' watches to end consumers.
To provide a comprehensive brand protection program, it is important to understand the consumer and how we can develop protection strategies that effectively mitigate risks, provide quality services and ultimately build confidence and enhance satisfaction for our clients and their customers.
The Supreme Court ruled on June 29, 2023, that the Lanham Act does not apply to trademark infringement occurring outside the United States, overturning a $90 million damages award, and emphasizing the need for U.S. brand owners to protect their trademarks in foreign jurisdictions for global expansion and to guard against foreign infringements.
The article provides an overview of the defensive trademarks concept from the anti-counterfeiting perspective with a focus on the Russian legislation and practice.
