Simulation of rights enforcement - Finding and identifying potential infringing products on eBay, Amazon.com, Alibaba.com and Rakuten

Training on controlling intellectual property object - Geographical indication in digital space and mechanisms of enforcement the rights on it - was conducted for the employees of Legal and Trade Marks departments of Sakpatenti and for the representatives of the executive bodies. Implementation of the simulative processes became possible due to the EU funded twining project (GE/16 ENI EC 0318)) on “Establishing Efficient Protection and Control System of Geographical Indications (GIs) in Georgia”.

Increasing the number of violation of rights on Georgian geographical indications and appellations of origin put on the agenda the need to enhance the knowledge of employees of the executive bodies and to share international experience. Invited experts introduced the response mechanisms in case of identification of counterfeit products, measures to be taken to seizure them, international regulatory acts on rights enforcement, the latest rulings of European Court of Justice on violation and enforcements of rights to the training participants.

Simulative processes were conducted during the training the main purpose of which was searching and identifying possible infringing products through various online shops: eBay, Amazon.com, Alibaba.com, Rakuten, etc. Representatives of the executive bodies will use the knowledge gained during the training in their daily work, that will support increase of effectiveness of rights enforcement.

Sakpatenti implements the measures necessary for registering and protecting Georgian geographical indications and appellations of origin in foreign countries. The received experience will significantly impact on responding to rights infringing cases in different countries and taking the respective measures.

Geographical indications represent the names of geographical locations that are used for marking such products, whose special quality, characteristics or reputation are determined by the environmental conditions and human factor specific for the place of production. Protecting their reputation and rights is one of the priorities of Sakpatenti and the body is actively working on the mentioned issue.