Newsletter
The Legal Attack and Defense of Brand Commercial Battle in International Exhibitions
I. Introduction: Awareness of Preparation before attending International Exhibitions which is to be considered as the Battlefield of Brand Commercial Warfare
After two years of the COVID-19 epidemic, the world's largest Consumer Electronics Show ("CES"), was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Nevada, USA in early 2023. The post-epidemic recovery attracted more than 3,200 exhibitors from around the world, including about 1,000 start-up teams, to compete for international orders. CES 2023 covered six major themes, including Enterprise Technology Innovation, Web 3 and Metaverse, Transportation and Mobile Communications, Digital Health, Sustainability, and Gaming and Services. It certainly set a post-epidemic benchmark for subsequent international trade shows.
International exhibitions are often the focal point of various thematic industries and fields, attracting international manufacturers and start-up teams from the same thematic industries and fields to participate in the exhibition at one time. And by participating in the international events, it is their opportunity to use this platform to showcase and promote their latest products to attract the attentions of international buyers.
However, international exhibitions are the battlefield of brand commercial warfare, especially the exhibitors often elaborate on the marketing of the same thematic industry, so the exhibitors should have be prepared before making use of any brand, trademark, and promotional materials containing brands and trademarks, to minimize the risk of being accused of infringement or even being seized during the exhibitions. One may also take the initiative to bring legal actions towards its competitors' products that pose a potential risk of infringement by examining and out-plotting its brand layout in advance, as a means to prevent the competitors from entering into the market during this commercial warfare.
The risk assessment and management of brand infringement and brand layout before, during and after these international exhibitions are briefed as follows.
II. Defense Before International Exhibitions
(i) Infringement Risk Management
Since most of the exhibitors in the international exhibitions are often in the same industry, similarities lies in their product branding, trademark conceptions and the wordings in the promotional materials. During the exhibitions, to avoid being accused of trademark infringements by competitors through the use of the brand names and the wordings on the promotional materials or products, as the competitors may apply for injunction or initiate seizure on the infringing products, resulting in the inability to continue displaying the products in the exhibitions, resulting wasting of time, efforts and money spent on the exhibitions and failing to receive the benefits in participating, and even suffering the loss of opportunity of the subsequent products from entering into the international markets. Therefore, before the opening of any international exhibition, all the brand names, trademarks and promotional materials that will be displayed and used in the booth must be thoroughly and completely examined in advance:
1. First of all, one should examine whether all that will be displayed in the booths such as the brand names and the graphic designs which may be recognized as trademark use, have been registered as trademarks in the countries where the exhibitions are held.
2. If any of the above-mentioned graphic designs has not yet obtained any trademark registration in the host country, then a trademark search should be conducted before the exhibitions, to evaluate beforehand whether the identical or similar trademarks have been applied for or registered as trademarks in the host country. In particular, it should be noted that if the host country is a member of the League of Nations, the scope of conducting the trademark search should have covered the trademarks of both the host country and the League of Nations, such as the European Union.
3. Through the trademark search, if the use of the brand names itself and the use of it on the promotional materials is assessed to be at high risk of infringing others' trademark rights, then one should avoid using such brand names also the promotional materials in the exhibitions.
(ii) Outplotting in Advance
1. International Exhibitions
After conducting the aforementioned trademark search on the host country, if it is confirmed that no prior applications or registrations on the same or similar trademarks, exhibitors should immediately apply for the trademark registration in the host country, for the sake of holding and protecting the trademark rights of the new brands. For some countries that adopt non-substantial examination, the trademark registration may be granted in three to five months the soonest. The trademark registration may even be obtained before the international exhibitions are held to eliminate the risk of infringement With that said, to file the trademark application earlier, it is possible that one may get the approval on the trademark registration even before the international exhibitions; excluding infringement risks therefrom.
However, if the trademark search and application for a new brand cannot be conducted timely to obtain the trademark registration before the exhibitions, then a trademark application should be filed in the host country before the exhibitions are held, for the latest, in order to prevent the new brand from being registered by others in the host country once it is made public in the exhibition venues.
2. Targeted relevant markets in Key Countries
International exhibitions attract people's attention. Once the brand name and trademark used for new products are exhibited, they will be exposed to the sights of the international public. If no prior trademark portfolio is formed in the targeted relevant markets in key countries, once new brand names are made public, they may be pre-empted by others in the key countries, such as China, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, etc., causing obstacles for exhibitors to apply for trademark registration in those key countries in the future.
Therefore, before making any product debut in the international exhibitions, applications for trademark registration should be filed, at the latest, before the opening of the first day of the international exhibitions, within the key countries, such as China, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
III. Attacks in the International Exhibitions and the Subsequent Thorough Outplotting
(i) Collecting Evidences & initiating Actions
In addition to keeping track of the industry and market trends, if exhibitors find products that are suspected of infringing on the brand's trademark rights, they should appropriately keep evidence such as photos of the booths and products, and catalogs of suspected infringing products, in order to further evaluate and confirm whether such products are indeed infringing on the brand's trademark rights.
Should it be confirmed through on-site evidence collection, professional legal consultation and evaluation that the brand names and trademarks of other exhibitors' products are indeed infringing on the trademark rights of their own brands, actions may be taken against the infringing products of other exhibitors at the exhibition venues to stop the continued display of such infringing products at the exhibition.
(ii) Examining the inventory for future shipments and examining the targeted markets for expanding future businesses to outplot thoroughly
After the international exhibitions draw to close, exhibitors should check the orders received during the exhibition, compile a list of countries where they intend to make subsequent shipments and expand their business, actively examine whether the new brand has already obtained trademark rights in each intended country, and promptly apply for trademarks in countries where trademark portfolio is not yet established. At the same time, we should make good use of the priority rights to ensure that the priority date of the first application is asserted in each and subsequent country.
IV. Conclusions
Before, during and after participating in international exhibitions, in addition to actively promoting their own products, it is essential that the exhibitors are aware of the risk of brand infringement and form the brand layout in advance, and be able to take necessary legal actions at the exhibition venues in a timely manner. After the international exhibitions, it is advised that the exhibitors actively execute monitoring and evaluating whether the other exhibitors are selling infringing products in the relevant targeted markets in the key countries, so that the exhibitors can take relevant measures in time. Such a strategic attack and defense will enable new products and brands to be promoted more successfully whether in attending the international exhibitions or in developing future businesses.