You’re in the Toolkit!
Welcome to the IACC’s Anti-Counterfeiting Toolkit for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). You’ve invested considerable time and money in building your brand and bringing your products to market, but unfortunately there are many people looking to take advantage of those investments. Protecting your brand, your reputation, and your profits from counterfeiters can seem like a daunting task, but the IACC is here to help!
This toolkit, created by brand protection experts partnering with the IACC, gives you tools, strategies, methods, and tactics for protecting your brand online and offline. Because most counterfeiting activities involve exploitation of brand owners’ trademarks, copyrights and domain names, this toolkit focuses primarily on these IP assets and the three key components of effective IP protection: PREVENTION, DETECTION, and ENFORCEMENT.
Toolkit Sections
- Prevention includes explanations on how to register your valuable intellectual property assets and alert potential infringers to your IP rights.
- Detection includes strategies and tactics for identifying violations of your IP rights by bad actors.
- Enforcement includes tactics for removing illegal and infringing content online and offline and how to engage law enforcement to mitigate the danger of counterfeits in the world’s global supply chain.
- Legislation and Policy Advocacy includes why it’s important and ways SMEs can lend their voice to push for better protections against counterfeiting and piracy.
- Additional Resources
IACC SME Task Force
We thank the IACC SME Task Force for their input, feedback and overall contribution throughout the development of the SME Brand Enforcement Toolkit. SME Task Force members include representatives from The Lumistella Company, C.F. Martin and Co., Inc, The Bohning Co, USAopoly, OCuSoft, Zimmerman, Slice Engineering, 100% Speedlab, HDMI Licensing Adminstrator, and Embryolisse.
Contributing Author: Statton Hammock
Statton Hammock is a recognized expert in Internet-related law, policy, and brand protection. He advocates for regulations, procedures, and industry best practices that promote the security, trust, and safety of the Internet and use of online platforms. Statton has worked with the world’s most recognized brands and non-profit organizations to develop and protect their intellectual property rights online and enhance their digital presence.
Welcome to the IACC’s Brand Protection Toolkit for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs).
Do you have a counterfeiting problem and don’t know where to start? Are you considering building a team or function in your company to tackle fakes, but not sure what you should prioritize? Are you planning ahead and want to get your ducks in a row before you have a serious counterfeiting problem?
This toolkit provides practical recommendations addressing the above questions and tools for SMEs to build their brand protection program. It’s been written and reviewed by brand protection experts along with the IACC’s SME Task Force, who’ve already gone through growing pains of their own and shared tips on things they wish they’d known at the outset.
What’s inside?
The SME Toolkit breaks down the brand protection process in three steps: PREVENTION, DETECTION and ENFORCEMENT. Each section is comprised of tactics that SMEs can implement internally as well as recommendations for engaging external counsel or a service provider to take brand protection to the next level. It also shows where and how the IACC can help. And make no mistake, we’ve been in the trenches with our SME members and program participants over the last five years, so we know a thing or two of the challenges SMEs face and how to overcome them.
Disclaimer
The information provided in this Toolkit does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available in this Toolkit are for general informational purposes only. Information in this Toolkit may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information. This Toolkit contains links to other third-party websites. Such links are only for the convenience of the reader, user or browser; the IACC and its members do not recommend or endorse the contents of the third-party sites.