Articles
Tulip® - Taking Out 'Mr Big': A Hard-Ball Strategy For Brand Owners In The Fight Against Counterfeiters
| Release Date: |
01 July 2003 |
| Author: |
Gary Miller |
| Original Publication: |
MdR |
COUNTERFEITERS and brand pirates are ripping UK brand owners off to the tune of £26.5 million per day, as organised crime transfers its skills to the low-risk, lucrative market for intellectual property theft.
But their days are numbered, according to top lawyers Mishcon de Reya, who today announced they are turning up the heat on the ‘Mr Bigs’ behind these scams with the launch of a new way to beat counterfeiting.
Mishcon’s has developed a fight-back strategy which closes down pirates for good. And it is already an approach being applauded by giants such as Microsoft who are seeing how asset freezing and seizing tactics really are bearing financial fruits and stamping out organised counterfeiting rings.
By treating counterfeiters in exactly the same way as other criminals Mishcon is able to claw back levels of compensation so punishing that they not only give the client a worthwhile return, but destroy forever the criminal’s ability to operate.
This is likely to come as startling news for brand owners who feel powerless against sophisticated criminals.
Mishcon de Reya partner Gary Miller explained:
“The traditional recourse against pirates - chasing and seizing the goods-- is often seen as an expensive, time-consuming headache, with little financial reward and of only short term effect. Our strategy - based on chasing and recovering the money instead - is called Tulip® or “turning losses into profits”.
“Its novelty and effectiveness lie in the transfer of anti-fraud practices into the intellectual property arena, recovering from organised criminals not just the profit brand owners have lost but also any assets that the pirates have acquired with their ill gotten gains.”
Their approach is aggressive, but justified, says Gary, who together with fellow partner Jeremy Hertzog, is leading the Tulip® task force. They argue that theft of a brand, patent or other right is just as much an act of theft and just as damaging to the victim as fraud. And it is the drug dealers of a few years ago who are now turning their attention to counterfeiting because it is lucrative yet seen by them as low risk.
Already benefiting from Tulip® is Microsoft which has been working with Mishcon for the last three years.
Said Gary:
“In one of the cases we worked on for Microsoft we achieved returns in the region of ratio 8:1. On two separate occasions we successfully shut down long standing sophisticated counterfeiting rings which were responsible for distributing millions of pounds worth of counterfeit product in the UK and in doing so recovered substantial damages which more than paid for the costs of the entire operation. It also gave Microsoft a healthy return on their investment.”
Microsoft is one of the early beneficiaries of the Tulip® approach and are joined by other big names which have seen the financial benefits. So far Mishcon de Reya has won clients tens of millions in compensation and granted them rights to ‘freeze, seize and squeeze’ the assets of criminals, exploiting civil law to the nth degree to paralyse the Mr Bigs for good.