Protecting brands

This Sunday 28 February, I’ll be speaking at Buffet, the first tradeshow and public expo in the Asia-Pacific region dedicated to Streetwear, Sneakers, Contemporary Style & Culture, Design, T-Shirts, Accessories and much more.
It’ll be a conversation between Eddie Zammit, t-shirt collector and editor of T-World magazine, and I.
If you want to know more about intellectual [...]

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When I was in Shanghai last week, I bought a number of Chinese and English music CDs – not only are original CDs cheaper but, naturally, it’s possible to find music from more obscure Chinese performers. I took the CDs (together with some baby clothes I bought for my unofficial goddaughter Maya) to the nearest [...]

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Cuba is jailing factory workers who produce counterfeit cigars. Authorities report that they are confiscating over 1,500 boxes of counterfeit cigars each month.
The counterfeit cigars reproduce the labels of well known and expensive cigar brands. A box of counterfeit Cuban cigars tends to sell for a price that is five times lower than the ‘real’ [...]

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Piracy is going to continue unstopped until we all use the right strategy.
On his blog, Max Barry explains how he bought an original DVD of The Dark Knight but anti-piracy protection on the disc prevented him from playing it on his home theatre PC.
He makes a good point:
If I wanted to illegally download The Dark [...]

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In my last 2 posts I explained why I think the current anti-piracy ads (international, Australian and Malaysian) are ineffective.
What makes them ineffective? There are 2 flaws:
Flaw #1 – An annoying ad is unlikely to change behaviour in a positive way. And the ads are so patronising that they are very annoying (even to true [...]

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Malaysia is a very important market for attention. It is one of the world’s biggest sources of pirated DVDs with sophisticated criminal gangs. Pirated DVDs can be bought for a few dollars. If any country deserves special attention, this is it.
But despite this, the ads are even worse than normal. They used to use the [...]

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I hate to say this, but the world’s least effective advertising comes from anti-piracy organisations. They spend a lot of energy and time trying to convince governments that piracy of music and films is a huge international problem (which it is). But their own advertising is a joke.
Click here to watch the Australian version.
Click here to watch the International [...]

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Saudi Arabia is developing laws based on Islamic (Shariah) Law to protect intellectual property, particularly counterfeit medicines.
30% to 40% of the pharmaceuticals sold at pharmacies and hospitals in Saudi Arabia are counterfeit according to Abdullah Al-Abdelgader, a pharmaceutical company representative. Unlike perfectly legal ‘generic’ medicines, many counterfeit pharmaceuticals do not contain proper ingredients, putting [...]

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LVMH, owner of luxury brands like Dior and Louis Vuitton, has won a case against Ebay for its role in the sale of fake luxury goods. A French court awarded LVMH compensation of €39 million ($66 million) for damage to brand image and moral harm.
Ebay immediately said it would appeal the ruling.
Ebay says that [...]

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The victory by luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton in a case against a Chinese hotel which leased retail space to a shop selling knockoffs of the French brand shows that there is at least one area where Chinese anti-counterfeiting law is stricter than Australia’s.
 
The Intermediate Peoples Court in the city of Dongguan in the southern [...]

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