Brand protection in India has been largely limited to conducting IP enforcement actions either by filing civil suits in courts or organizing criminal actions. On one hand, brand are spending good amount of money in undertaking these actions and on the other hand, there is very little, rather no conviction in either case.

As a result of this, brands not only continue to suffer but also offenders are emboldened and many first time offenders emerge with the repeat offences. To add on to this issue is that, many brands have been executing actions on the trade channels/ partners, which in turn takes the trade channel away from selling that particular brand.

This is a complex scenario where brand owners on one hand need to create fear & deterrents for the violators and on the other hand keep the trade channels involved & motivated for selling their goods & services.

So, the need is to mix and match few strategies for taking actions on the violators. First is important to categories the violators in “ serious” and “not so serious” violators and then conducting alternative actions in both the cases. For a serious offender (a repeat offender, a manufacturing/ distribution entity willfully violating etc.) it is imperative that brands take a enforcement action either using a civil or criminal route. But for “ not so serious” violators ( small retail channels, first time offenders, unknowingly violators etc.) it is important for the brand, not to take very harsh actions but, to take a little mild yet an very effective action called  “Swift Action”.

These Swift Actions are executed by a local lawyer ( “lawyer on street”) with the help of a social group & brand field force, where the violator is counseled by keeping the evidences of violation in front and is let off ( from a hard action) by signing an willful undertaking, for not repeating the violation in future. The violator by this method is also obliged & motivated to promote the genuine products, thereby contributing to improved revenue for the brand going forward.

www.brandsandfakes.com has created huge networks of intellectual property detectives/anti-counterfeit investigators etc and best practices, which utilize technology, collaboration, social media and other tools to carryout swift actions coupled with other methodologies of campaigns and IP enforcement actions in India and globally , for a comprehensive protection of a brand from unfair competition.

These swift actions are carried out by carefully chosen team from the Brands & Fakes extended network, consisting of a local lawyer, representatives of social groups, intellectual property detectives/ anti-counterfeit investigators and also many times representatives from the brand. After the action, a comprehensive methodology is put in place to keep a continuous vigil on the entity for a prolonged period of time, coupled with a continuous communication. This also makes sure that the entity does not go back on the undertaking/ commitment and remains under a continuous fear of being watched.

Highlights of Swift Actions
Objective of Swift actions are to ensure compliance by alternate methods

• Pre decide the percentage of cases which will be taken for swift actions.
• Swift actions only for “not so serious offenders” with an objective to direct them to companies direct sales channels for top-line and bottom line growth.
• A hub and spoke mechanism to ensure delivery across all major towns in India.
• The team consists of the following
  • A local lawyer
  • Local NGO’s/ volunteers
  • Local media person ( wherever required)
  • BnF associate
• Customized compliance formats/ undertakings for specific customers.
• A pre-determined schedule is drawn for subsequent validations/vigil and timely periodic reports.