Counterfeiting is, unfortunately, a fact of life for most successful branded goods companies. If a product sells well and gains an international reputation, it will be targeted by criminal organisations who seek to take advantage of that reputation by distributing fake products into key sales markets. Traditionally this meant market stalls and less reputable retail outlets; more frequently this now means sales via the internet.

We have managed the enforcement programmes of a number of our clients for many years, with remits covering global as well as local enforcement. One of our partners, Tony Stephens, is a board member of SNB REACT, the European anti-counterfeiting organization whose objective is to provide a pan-European anti-counterfeiting resource for its members.

In recognition of the need for a pro-active ground level resource to tackle this issue, S&A employs a full-time brand protection manager, Cath Howell-Walmsley, whose role it is to educate the enforcement authorities (e.g. Customs, Trading Standards) and assist them in monitoring the marketplace to identify and take action against counterfeiters. This strategy has a dual objective: firstly, to keep to a minimum the appearance of counterfeits in our clients’ key markets, and secondly, to identify the source of those counterfeits and take strong action to close them down.

We have managed enforcement actions in conjunction with local authorities and investigators in a number of Asia-Pacific jurisdictions with a significant degree of success, which has seen the breaking up of counterfeit networks and the arrest and prosecution of the individuals spearheading them. This resource is a significant factor in differentiating us from most other law firms.