Under the title "Enhancing and Protecting Brand Value in the Global Market Place" the third conference of the Center for Transnational IP, Media and Technology Law and Policy (Bucerius IP Center) was held on Thursday, October 2, 2014 in the Moot Court of Bucerius Law School.
The presentations of the eleven renowned speakers from academia and especially from practice addressed modern challenges for trademark law, as well as new opportunities for law implementation and enforcement. Globally, trademark law has in principle failed to keep up with technological developments in the recent past. Nevertheless, things in this area are changing. An example of this is the current situation in China. Traditionally China has tolerated the counterfeit industry as an engine of economic development however substantial changes have been brought into practice with the third revision of their trademark laws which have significantly increased trademark protection.
Online trading however remains an exciting challenge, especially on platforms such as eBay who are seen to be more likely to take action against counterfeit products than in other digital and analogue worlds. This is because they are seen as self-contained microcosms and can therefore introduce and enforce their own rules. Other focal points of the conference were potentially lethal counterfeit food and automobile parts as well as unconventional brands. The presentations were divided into three thematic blocks, each of which was followed by a panel discussion with audience participation. The Bucerius IP Center would like to thank its founding partners DLA Piper for their generous support.
