2024 Annual Meeting Offers Global Perspectives on Enforcement

The enforcement and protection of intellectual property (IP) rights is a complex and ever-evolving task. The global marketplace is increasingly integrated. New and emerging technologies cannot be ignored. And the counterfeiters themselves are taking advantage of the same innovations that brands are using to reach consumers and grow their businesses.

In a piece published in the INTA Bulletin today, the Enforcement Committee leadership share what they see as the most pressing enforcement challenges facing brand owners and IP professionals today. These include a lack of global harmonization for preliminary injunction procedures, difficulties in obtaining adequate compensation for damages in infringement cases, finding opportunities for governments and enforcement agencies to collaborate in multijurisdictional anticounterfeiting activities, and developing laws and other tools to enforce IP protection in cases involving artificial intelligence and the metaverse.

IP enforcement today necessitates a proactive approach to addressing these challenges and solutions that aim for consistency and fairness in trademark enforcement practices globally.

Enforcement is covered from a variety of viewpoints in several sessions throughout the 2024 Annual Meeting educational program. The program also features two workshops and two panel discussions that will delve into the issue, exploring the latest developments in IP enforcement around the globe and online, providing registrants with opportunities to hear from experts, gain insight into trends, brainstorm and benchmark solutions, and network with fellow brand professionals.

Interactive Workshops

Anticounterfeiting Workshop (Exclusive to In-House Practitioners and Government Officials. Pre-registration required)
Saturday, May 18, 2:00 pm–5:00 pm
Presented by the Anticounterfeiting Committee

INTA’s Anticounterfeiting Workshop will delve into the complexities of anticounterfeiting strategies, focusing on the transition from online investigations to offline enforcement. Attend multiple breakout sessions with stakeholders, intermediaries, and government officials, where participants can learn about the latest tools and techniques used in identifying and tracking online counterfeit goods to their offline supply chains, as well as the legal and practical aspects of enforcement actions where partnership and collaboration are key.

China Enforcement Workshop (pre-registration required)
Monday, May 20, 8:00 am–10:00 am
Simultaneous translation available.

New in 2024! For the first time, INTA is bringing together the range of enforcement agencies from China for a discussion of how to combat the growing threat of counterfeiting and large-scale trademark and IP rights infringements in China. Representatives of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, State Administration for Market Regulation, the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China, and the Beijing Intellectual Property Court will share insights and take questions, allowing for a comprehensive overview of Chinese enforcement activities and strategies.

Panel Discussions

Cross-Border Enforcement and Global Routes of Counterfeits: A Multi-Region Perspective
Monday, May 20, 3:45 pm–4:45 pm
Presented by the Anticounterfeiting Committee

Counterfeit activity continues to be a cross-border, “big picture” issue involving an ever-growing and evolving sophisticated network of bad actors keen to harness known gaps in detection and enforcement in the global trade of counterfeits. Despite obvious differences among industries, such as product, customer base, and supply chain structure, rights holders across industries have the common need to keep up with counterfeiters and identify novel and creative approaches to detect and shut down global networks. This session will share perspectives from various industries, intermediaries, and government agencies on both common and unique challenges in the global trade of counterfeits and will offer alternative approaches to add to rights holders’ enforcement playbooks.

Domain Enforcement: New Practice Tools for New Challenges
Tuesday May 21, 3:00 pm–4:00 pm
Presented by the Internet and Data Protection Committees

This session will explore new tools that have been developed to request information regarding the owners and administrators of domain names in light of the limitations of WHOIS lookups. As a result of ICANN’s response to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe, registrars and registries are no longer contractually required to publish ownership information or contact details, including the names of legal entities. Further, there is no central source from which to request information nor is there any guarantee that access to the requested information will be granted. All of the decision making has therefore been left in the hands of the registrars and registries to perform the balancing test that is required under the GDPR and other privacy regimes.

New tools have been developed to simplify information requests and create centralized structures for submitting such requests. The panel for this session will describe and provide insight into the benefits and limitations of some of these tools, such as ICANN’s new Registration Data Request System, the Domain Name System Abuse Institute’s NetBeacon, and the Registrar Stakeholder Group’s Abuse Contact IDentifier (ACID) Tool. The panel will also highlight the current and new tools for enforcing trademark rights in the domain name system. Practitioners will walk away with knowledge of new tools for gathering and reporting information regarding domain name abuse.

The 2024 Annual Meeting takes place in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, May 18–22. Early-Bird Registration closes March 8. Learn more and register.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this article, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest.

© 2024 International Trademark Association