Brand piracy

Brand piracy is the act of naming a product in a manner which can result in confusion with other better known brands. According to author Robert Tönnis The term brand piracy is unauthorized usage of protected brand names, labels, designs or description of trade. Annika Kristin states "brand Piracy is considered to be the premeditated use of registered trademark, its name, its tradename or the packaging and presentation of its products". It is a major loss to MNE's around the world as it causes a loss of revenue and image of the brand.

Tönnis describes the consequence of brand piracy as the consumption of fake, untested and poor quality goods by consumers. This can damage the reputation of brands and even result in damage to people's health. In 2012 the CBP promised to protect the economy, the people of the USA and their national security "against harm from counterfeit and pirated goods".

Examples for imitation and counterfeiting of branded products have been noted as early as 1912.

Over the last decade, the counterfeiting and piracy phenomenon has risen to very dangerous dimensions and has become one of the most devastating problems facing world business.

While some experts suggest the company to go the extremes of punishing the counterfeiter, others also suggest takeover or franchisee agreements with them. Some other authors suggest web based web crawlers that can identify and delete any promotional material that infringes with the product of the company. Some authors suggest recourse to legal action and a study of legal protections available in those markets where Piracy is prevalent. Since 1977 obvious plagiarism in regards to established design is also exposed in public by awarding the negative prize Plagiarius.

...
Wikipedia