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Counterfeit consumer goods or knockoffs are defined as consumer goods that infringe the trademark of a rightful owner by using the same symbol or logo as goods that are trademarked. The Nike sign and the Mercedes emblem are all examples of trademarked symbols used to define authentic goods made by legitimate companies.

The Representative for the US trade office is predicting that the amount of counterfeit goods that are sold on the Internet will very soon exceed the amount sold by street vendors and within the confines of other physical marketplaces. The marketplace for these types of goods is estimated to top $600B globally. With legitimate goods being sold online forecasted to exceed $1.25T, of the writing of this post, one out of four transactions conducted online likely involves goods that are counterfeit.

The surge of online counterfeit goods requires that the rightful owners of those goods enforce the rights to their brand via the implementation of an online brand protection program as part of their effort to protect their brand from the ever increasing threats. The various Internet outlets that facilitate the sale of counterfeit goods should be constantly monitored. Online brand anti-counterfeiting measures must be addressed, as more challenges arise with counterfeiters increasingly being drawn to the Internet’s wide-reaching anonymity and the flexibility inherent.

The anonymity that the Internet provides counterfeiters is the biggest pull and it allows them to act with virtual impunity in jurisdictions outside of the US, that have restrictions that are hardly developed if at all. Many countries have a high tolerance for online counterfeiting, and counterfeiters can sell directly to consumers in the US, Europe and almost everywhere else, where they can use expertly designed rogue websites that much of the time fools consumers into buying what they often think is the real thing.

Beyond Fierce Competition

Before e-commerce, competition between brands was fierce but not as fierce as it is now with these counterfeit brands. Sure. Brand owners can do a Google search and much of the time identify a majority of these rogue counterfeit sites, but the sheer number of these sites, identifying who owns it in conjunction with its location outside of the US is a huge mountain to climb.. This makes it all the more important for brand owners to implement some sort of brand protection tool.

Time and Money

A brand protection tool is one that will save you both time and money as it scans the internet for online threats to your brand. With so many new gTLDs being released, the threat is becoming larger than ever. When they become available, what is stopping infringers from registering a domain such as yourbrand.sucks or yourbrand.shop? For that you need constant monitoring.

The Wild Wild Web

There are so many corners of the internet that online counterfeiters can operate. Potential threats to your brand are out there all the time, that sifting through all these threats to prioritize the ones that can cause the most damage is a huge task.

Brand protection software is around the clock solution that can hone in on these threats and utilize sophisticated algorithms to separate the most severe ones from the lesser ones. The software should provide essential information about the threats according to the threat level.

A brand protection tool is not something that should be rigid, but is one that is set up and tailored with your businesses’ requirements. Having online anti-counterfeiting measures in place, will give you freedom to do what you need to do to propel your business forward while staying protected and cease counterfeiter actions from stealing from your good name and bottom line.