Amazon seizes more than 2 million counterfeits; USPTO announces ID verification pilot; WTR reveals covid-19 impact on law firms; and much more

The Long Read

For over a decade, WTR has surveyed its readership for the Global Trademark Benchmarking Survey, which aims to identify how practice, strategies and threats are evolving. This year’s law firm results reveal the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on trademark operations and which aspects have changed forever. Read more

Monday 10 May

Amazon published its first-ever report on the company’s brand protection efforts, announcing that last year it seized more than 2 million counterfeit products before they were sent to customers. Read more

One of the most influential figures in India’s IP sector, Justice Manmohan Singh, provided his reaction to the surprise abolition of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board in an exclusive interview with WTR sister title IAM. Read more

Plus:

• UDRP: targeting is crucial for bad faith (International)
• Court of Appeal: independent and distinct goodwill may be built up by local agent using own trademark and trade name (Malaysia)

Tuesday 11 May

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit dealt a blow to a small Australian footwear company in the latest in an ongoing political and legal saga over the genericism of the UGG mark. Read more

Julie MacDonell, CEO of Heirlume, expanded on the platform’s plans to offer SMEs a service that will make the trademark application process as simple as buying a domain name. Read more

The USPTO announced that it is to begin a pilot programme for a new ID verification system on its online trademark platform, with experts warning of hurdles to be overcome. Read more

THE BIG LIE trademark application, Gap selling the Intermix brand, scammers' preferred TLDs, Verizon divesting its media division, and much more featured in Tuesday’s news round-up. Read more

Plus:

• Planned revisions to business blacklist - key points highlighted (China)
• General Court issues second decision in PRIMART saga (European Union)

Wednesday 12 May

WTR sat down with Gautam Godse, senior vice president of product at Brainbase, to get the inside track on the company’s new suite of trademark portfolio products. Read more

Locke Lord LLP’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, Paulette Brown, shared her insight into why law firms should reassess their history and do away with ‘exclusive’ labels. Read more

Plus:

• General Court: Board of Appeal erred in finding that relevant public would establish link between VERTI and VERTILIGHT (European Union)
• You want some ‘Metchup’ with that? (United States)

Thursday 13 May

IP offices in Georgia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Venezuela all published updates on operations affected by the pandemic. Read more

WTR was pleased to unveil the 13th edition of Anti-counterfeiting and Online Brand Enforcement: A Global Guide 2021 – a free-to-view, exhaustive, go-to resource for those fighting infringement. Read more

Plus:

• Traditional Oslo restaurant’s name and logo not protected under trademark or unfair competition law, says appellate court (Norway)
• adidas successful in phishing case involving branded face masks (Uruguay)
• Nivea wins men's shower gel packaging dispute in South Africa (International report: Africa)
• New rules for filing voluntary divisional applications in Mexico explained (International report: Mexico)
• Swatch successfully appeals Apple UK bad-faith parody claims (International report: United Kingdom)

Friday 14 May

Friday’s news digest saw Qatar Airways take on VisitQatar.com, Donuts launching an anti-phishing tool, INTA preparing to hold a free legal clinic, brands risking a boycott for poor ad placement, and much more. Read more

Exclusive data analysis highlighted South Korea’s trademark ecosystem as one that is heavily utilised by local brands, becoming the fastest of the developed countries to recover the output lost during the pandemic. Read more

Plus:

• Chanel loses its way in trademark orientation opposition (European Union)
• Ground-breaking Andean Community decision on a "Common Regime for Country Brands" (International)

Saturday 15 May

In our latest Saturday opinion column, we considered the potential for data providers to tweak their platforms to target those in the investment and finance space. Read more

WTR Special Report: The rise of mass filers and register clutter

Last month we launched the first of our new WTR Special Reports, focusing on the rise of mass filers and their impact on the trademark ecosystem. Scrutinising the data behind the filing activities of Michael Gleissner, Ikuhiro Ueda and Chinese entities, we explored the real-world effects of these on brand protection and how rights holders and registries can mitigate their impact. Read more