By Fa Somers, Brand Protection Analyst at Pointer Brand Protection    On the 15 April 2020, the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan should have been exactly 100 days away. As a result of the turbulent and challenging global circumstances arising from the coronavirus pandemic, however, the Games has been postponed until 2021. While the event has been delayed though, the admirable commitment and discipline involved in every aspect of staging and competing in the Games will continue. Sadly, another less positive aspect which will also not pause for the coronavirus, as has been shown in ..read more

Brand Protection Strategy Takeaways: Millennials and Generation Z buyers have different approaches to media and technology. These require different brand monitoring and enforcement strategies and measures The landscape for both generations varies by geographical region and will result in different enforcement requirements Generation Z are open to change, but vulnerable to accepting online behaviors, so education could be key to limiting counterfeiting   Millennials (those people born between 1981 and 1996) now comprise approximately 31.5% of the world’s population and have become a domi ..read more

Creating inclusive, equality-driven cultures in the workplace has become one of the great goals of progressive organizations. We’ve come a long way in this regard too, but events like International Women’s Day remind us annually of the need to keep working toward this objective. In connection with International Women’s Day 2020, our friends and partners at Corsearch have posted a new article featuring interviews with three inspiring female members of the wider Corsearch family. Of course, we’re extremely proud of all the team members who work at Pointer Brand Protection, but we also hope that ..read more

Although Pinduoduo has only existed since 2015, the Chinese social commerce platform is already viewed as a rival to more established players including Alibaba, JD, and Taobao. As early as 2018 the app had a user base in excess of 200 million people, and when it was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in the same year it raised $1.6 billion – one of the biggest IPOs of 2018. Pinduoduo has captured a vast market share by providing a unique service that caters to Chinese domestic needs and habits by offering incentives for bulk buying low priced goods, by providing group discounts, and by focusi ..read more

By Aaron Jennings, Business Development Manager at Pointer Brand Protection    In recent years, higher education institutions around the world have dramatically increased their commercial presence. The competition to attract new students has demanded that institutions show continuous improvement in teaching, research, and the provision of facilities, the cost of which has been met partly by increased marketization. One of the biggest growth areas for universities needing to generate extra revenue to meet these costs has been the exploitation of intellectual property (IP) rights throu ..read more

Corsearch strengthens its position as the industry leader for online brand protection and the only provider of end-to-end trademark clearance and brand protection solutions covering the entire trademark lifecycle     NEW YORK CITY, NY. (January 30th, 2020) – Corsearch, a trademark and brand protection solutions leader, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Pointer Brand Protection, a prominent provider of anti-counterfeiting and brand protection services. The acquisition further extends Corsearch’s fast-growing brand protection offering and provides a comprehensive new service f ..read more

With a population of 1.4 billion people, including a large percentage that regularly adapts to some of the most advanced technologies available today, it’s no surprise that China is home to the world’s largest online retail market. Brands have long been on high alert concerning their IP abuse in China, which is sensible since over 50% of global ecommerce market transactions come from the online shopping-inclined country. The overall demand for affordable products combined with China’s embrace of simplified shopping resulted in $1.33 trillion worth of online retail transactions in China in 2018 ..read more

What is Douyin/TikTok? Founded by the Beijing-based software developer ByteDance in 2016, Douyin is a Chinese social media app used primarily for the creation and sharing of short, user-generated videos of dancing, comedy, and lip-syncing to music. In 2017, ByteDance went on to also launch TikTok, a related app whose servers sit outside of China’s censorship laws and offer the platform to a worldwide audience. Although the two apps are linked and extremely similar, Douyin is the only version available to Chinese users while TikTok is for users outside of China.   How popular are Douyin a ..read more

Founded in 2013, Xiaohongshu (also known as RED and Little Red Book) is a Chinese social commerce app used primarily by young consumers. With more than 300 million registered users, 70% of whom belong to Gen Z, RED is one of China’s fastest growing and most powerful shopping platforms. RED reverses the common e-commerce pathway where overseas consumers buy from China by offering foreign brands to Chinese buyers. Like its rivals Pinduoduo, Weidian, and Xianyu, the app is increasing in popularity, but many Western brands still do not know what RED is or why they should be monitoring it for count ..read more

By Jan-Maarten Laurijssen, Co-founder & COO at Pointer Brand Protection    In 2019 the British press reported that a man using a fake police ID badge had managed to gain entry to the house of a family in Birmingham. He was spotted stealing money and pursued out by the homeowner.1 Unfortunately he got away on that occasion and so it remains unknown just how many other people the imposter had employed the same trick against. Sadly, this kind of story is far too common. The sale of counterfeit uniforms and badges, and the impersonation of officials, has become a damaging and alarmin ..read more