An online brand protection and reputation management company, SnapDragon Monitoring, and Anti Copying in Design (ACID), a UK design and intellectual property (IP) trade association, are partnering. Their aim; safeguarding design businesses from the counterfeits and IP infringements.
They argue that, counterfeiting poses a significant threat to all industries, as counterfeiters continually exploit genuine brand success to produce low-quality imitations of a coveted products. These counterfeit goods not only erode brand revenues and compromise IP, but may endanger consumers due to the use of toxic materials or shoddy workmanship. A recent SnapDragon survey discovered that nearly 20pc of UK SMEs have fallen victim to counterfeit product sales, resulting in severe financial losses for 93pc of them. Moreover, an estimated £13.6 billion of fake goods infiltrated Britain in 2020, causing legitimate businesses to lose sales totalling £9 billion.
Hence the partnering, for offering guidance, advice, and technical monitoring to protect assets. Using SnapDragon’s AI platform, Swoop, SMEs can continually scour the web to detect brand threats, infringements on registered and unregistered IPRs, and counterfeit product listings. They can then act; to remove these threats before they damage sales, brand reputation, or customer safety. ACID complements this effort by offering membership to the UK IP protection advocate. ACID, celebrating its 25th anniversary, provides advocacy for IP protection, offering creators and the design community tools for protection, deterrence, and education.
Dids Macdonald OBE, Co-Founder and CEO of ACID, said: “Imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery, especially when it has the potential to jeopardise sales, brands, and safety.” She emphasises that this partnership empowers organisations to act swiftly on IP infringements and eliminate them from the internet, providing a robust resource for small and independent businesses battling the counterfeit threat.”
SnapDragon and ACID are hosting a live event on Zoom on November 9 at 12.30. You can register here, and all are welcome to watch Dids and Rachel discussing their backgrounds and efforts to protect designers and creators.
Rachel Jones, CIO, and founder of SnapDragon, pictured, said: “Counterfeits are a huge problem, yet traditional brand protection has always been geared towards bigger businesses, though counterfeits affect companies of all sizes. It doesn’t matter if you are a global enterprise, or a small boutique designer, if you have developed a product, you hold the rights to its ownership, and fraudsters should never get away with banking on your success. We are in the business to support these organisations, offering them accessible brand and IP protection to help them keep the products they have worked tirelessly to create safe.”
More in the December print edition of Professional Security magazine. Visit: www.snapdragon-ip.com.
