About Protect Digital
With over twenty years experience in the field, Protect Digital was created with the purpose of highlighting the staggering, overwhelming and completely unsustainable amount of counterfeit, unlicensed and copyright/trademark breaching merchandise available on the worldwide online marketplaces.
Through extensive research and investigation, we have identified millions of potentially illegal and unlicensed goods available on these online marketplaces and the rate of which new products appear for sale daily is staggering. No entity or license is safe from this issue and it must be addressed with the same vigor and dedication that is afforded to video and music licensing. The associated trademark and copyright loss is exactly the same and the estimated revenue loss in some cases can be surprisingly similar when relevant to the entity. In simple terms, a counterfeit t-shirt, photo print or an unlicensed coffee mug are generally just as damaging to revenue and reputation as a pirated DVD, illegally downloaded movie, or cracked application.
The continued growth of the two major online retail platforms in the UK, Amazon and eBay, is staggering. In 2018, Amazon's UK operation alone reported £8bn of revenue. For its entire European Marketplace as a whole (UK, DE, ES, IT are all linked together in operational regards), they reported £22bn in revenue, a rise of 15% on 2017. These figures are only expected to grow, even in a difficult financial environment. Similarly, eBay has reported sales of nearly £1bn in 2017, with higher revenues expected to be reported. This accounts for only the two major online marketplaces. Etsy, Facebook Shops, Instagram, AliExpress, Wish and countless other independent websites and sellers are also benefiting from our booming online economy.
Our goal, through our expertise and dedication to this cause, is to give back control to brands, personalities and license holders of their intellectual property in specific regards to merchandise and all other licensed products that are sold on worldwide online marketplaces.
We are advising clients of three specific issues for rights holders that must now be addressed with immediate urgency:
- Loss of revenue. This cannot be underestimated. The affect on the value of licenses granted and lost royalties, the detrimental affect on the perceived value of the brand or entity, and the loss of product opportunity due to unlicensed and counterfeit goods is monumental.
- Loss of reputation and consumer confidence. Unlicensed and counterfeit goods represent a loss to consumers and research confirms that there is a detrimental affect to the brand or entity’s reputation when consumers purchase these goods. The vast majority of these consumers will be unaware that they are purchasing unlicensed or counterfeit goods. They are often sub-standard quality and represent poor value. The products are also illegal and even unknowingly purchasing such goods may represent a criminal challenge, yet another reason to protect consumers.
- The moral and possible legal obligation (based on our analysis of UK/EU law changes for social media and stated proposals) to take action against these goods when notified of their existence. The online marketplaces themselves are not properly motivated nor obligated to remove them and place the said obligation on rights holders and representative agents to report the goods to them for take down.
Protect Digital will “police” the worldwide marketplaces for our clients, identifying infringing listings through both automated and manual services, ensuring maximum effectiveness and protection. Online Marketplaces are held under no obligation to police listings and UK law enforcement/action fraud/FACT/Trading Standards offer inadequate support and resources to tackle the problem. This is why our service will become an essential part of not only your Brand Protection, but of your complete business operation, ensuring that illegal and unlicensed goods are no longer reducing your revenue and damaging your reputation.
