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Protect Your Brands on Social Media
Online counterfeit sellers are increasingly more sophisticated and are engaging in social media counterfeiting to exploit social media tools to bolster their sales of counterfeit products online.
A recent study shows that one in six products sold online is counterfeit. Sales of counterfeit products account for up to $600 billion, or about 7% of total world trade annually.
Aside from setting up online presences at auction or marketplace sites to ship counterfeit products directly to consumers, counterfeit sellers register domain names incorporating one or more targeted trademarks or confusingly similar variations thereof, and set up rogue websites that have the same look and feel as the brand owner's sites. They also impersonate brand owners on social media by creating rogue accounts and linking them to the rogue websites to establish a fa'ade of legitimacy. These accounts copy the brand owner's official logos and marks, product images and copyright-protected content from the genuine websites and/or social media accounts, without authorization, and list the rogue website address in the “About” or “Bio” section of the accounts. To complete the illusion, the rogue websites also hyperlink to these social media accounts in the same way as the brand owners' official websites hyperlink to the official social media accounts, which then link back to the official company or product websites, completing the circle. Since consumers often take brand owners' social media accounts at face value, and view brand owners' use of social media accounts as a way to promote their brands and to interact or communicate with their consumers, unsuspecting consumers often cannot determine the authenticity of these websites and social media accounts, and believe they are dealing with the brand owners or authorized sellers, when in fact they are not.
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Anti-Assignment Override Provisions
UCC Sections 9406(d) and 9408(a) are one of the most powerful, yet least understood, sections of the Uniform Commercial Code. On their face, they appear to override anti-assignment provisions in agreements that would limit the grant of a security interest. But do these sections really work?