Hello !

Nice to read about your work. This is Digged on: http://digg.com/political_opinion/Work_Amelia_Andersdotter

My Digg history: http://digg.com/users/sunurb01/history

Regards Urban

Hej, har skummat igenom rapporten om IPR och SME som du inte hade hunnit läsa. Några intressanta noteringar:

I kap 2.3 påpekar de att en tillverkare som hela tiden förbättrar sin produkt har ett mycket effektivt skydd mot konkurrens från aktörer som bara härmar. Intressant att notera är att det är just så som man gör i branscher där det helt saknas möjligheter att skydda sin produkter med patent, mönsterskydd och liknande.

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Kap 2.3
Certain measures described in this study will appeal particularly to smaller
companies which are unable to find redress through conventional, and often costly,
means. For example the continual introduction of incremental innovations to a
product or service may prove to be an effective defence against a counterfeiter by
making the activity prohibitively expensive (however continual innovation tends to
be inherently costly for the rights holder too).
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I kap 3.4 argumenterar de starkt för att det är fel väg att gå om man försöker skydda sina produkter genom att dra piratkopierare inför domstol.

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Kap 3.4 Alternative methods of defending intellectual property

The standard reference works covering IPR protection have traditionally been
written by firms of lawyers or patent/trade mark attorneys, sources of advice that
have naturally tended to concentrate on the registration of IPR and ways of gaining
redress once a problem has been encountered. However the situation is changing and an increasing number of legal practitioners, as well as others advising in this area, now emulate the medical fraternity in stressing that prevention is better than cure.

This section of the study report sets out a range of strategies and measures for
consideration by companies operating in any environment where there is the risk of
intellectual property being abused — which, to an experienced business person,
means almost every market in the world. The methods discussed are those actively
employed by individual businesses and trade associations and recommended by
legal and specialist firms dealing with IPR abuse.

The SME Survey asked respondents for details of the measures in this category,
which they employ, and the results are given in the next section.

3.4.1 Why counterfeiters gain the upper hand

Why, exactly, is prevention better than cure? It could be argued that a powerful
multinational corporation, with its patents and trade marks securely registered to
cover the markets in which it is operating, would have little to fear from small
counterfeiters. The IP rights owner can, after all, bring cases against infringers,
confident that he will win because of his relative might and the legal position.

Will this result in the closing down of the illegal factories and distribution networks
with the infringers fined or jailed? That would be a naïve view: the realities of
modern IPR infringement are very different. It is hard to keep ahead of the
counterfeiters if one chooses to operate reactively and wait to sort out problems
through litigation and other means only once they have appeared.
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I kapitel 3.4.6 kan vi läsa att det ofta är effektivt att helt enkelt köpa företaget eller verksamheten som tillverkar piratkopiorna.

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Another tactic sometimes used is for the company manufacturing or selling the genuine product to purchase a counterfeiting company outright. This may seem a strange way of dealing with an infringement but — setting aside regard to the illegality of the counterfeiter — it may make sense in purely commercial terms when one considers the counterfeiter’s knowledge of the product, market share and so on. (This practice is more prevalent than merely an occasional, peculiar case).
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I kapitel 3.4.6 argumenteras det också en väldig massa för att olika sätt att skapa affärshemligheter är effektivt. Dessutom så påpekar man att relationsmarknadsföring och byggandet av kundlojalitet är effektivt. Dvs exakt vad alla konsultfirmor vet, men produktproducerande företag ofta slarvar med.

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Another method of outwitting a counterfeiter is to offer a higher level of service than a counterfeiter would contemplate. In addition to a comprehensive and plausible after-sales service, it may be possible to offer the means of installing the product.
Add-ons that differentiate the genuine item from the fake will tencustomer loyalty — even in the presence of lower-price counterfeits.
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Man argumenterar också i kapitel 3.4.6 för att göra varje exemplar till ett unikt föremål som man gör med sedlar (och konstverk).

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Many manufacturers incorporate subtle changes to packaging, or the product itself, that may go unnoticed by the but will help to identify copies in the event of action being taken, even though the packaging is outwardly a perfect replica.

"A Yorkshire man who has invented a product which weaves labels
unique to each garment, could help to defeat the trade in counterfeit
designer merchandise, it has been reported... Mr Ahmed’s patented
procedure enables the designer to weave an invisible code into the
product which can be used to certify the authenticity of the garment.
Yorkshire Forward, November 2006 "

Banknotes provide an extreme example of this practice, with national banks making supreme efforts to make life difficult for forgers, as well as incorporating ways of identifying forgeries.
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I övrigt innehåller rapporten inget av större värde eller några nya korkade förslag, mest utmynnar det i att det behövs informationskampanjer.

Varsågod, kul att du har nytta av det. Dessutom så är SME affärsstrategier något som intresserar mig professionellt och jag hjälper gärna till igen inom det området.

Så säg till om du behöver hjälp att läsa, analysera något eller bolla idéer. Antar att du har min mejl, annars hittar du mig genom mitt företag Äktafejk. www.äktafejk.se

Hoppas du får bli MEP snart, du behövs där :)

Ses

Rasmus