Solutions To Protect The Right Of Trademark In Malaysian Sports
One of the main challenges faced as to the right of trademark in the area of sports in Malaysia is the act of counterfeiting sporting goods and sportswear. Physical counterfeiting gives a definition where unauthorized use of a trademark or brands which are already existing. But particularly, counterfeiters target to counterfeit sporting goods and sportswear as it is evident that lots of famous and popular brands are turn out to be sports brands. Counterfeiters can make good profit by selling these fake sporting goods. In order to deal with the issue of counterfeit products, several measures could be carried out.
Trademarks are basically the indication of a brand or product. In sports, there are many products of sportswear in which the brands are the trademark whereby they are being infringed by the way of counterfeit products or goods. People basically, buy these sportswear product due to brand as they are the best in qualities. However, the reputation of the companies brand might be tarnished due to counterfeit products. Not only that the companies will eventually face a loss due to the existence of counterfeit goods.
Even though, the Trademark Act 1976 have such provision to handle this type of issues, but it is still not sufficient. Especially, when Malaysia is the neighbour of Thailand in which to say frankly one of the few countries in producing and selling counterfeit goods of popular brands such as Adidas, Under Armour, Puma, Nike sportswear and etc. Thus, this type of counterfeit goods may easily be brought inside to the country. In a Singaporean case of Reebok International Ltd. v. Royal Corp, the defendant had imported counterfeit Reebok shoes, and had committed an offence according to Trade Mark Act.
Besides that, online shopping is also a platform where it increases the quantity of sales of counterfeiting sporting goods and sportswear. Nowadays, everyone prefers to shop from their home instead of a traditional way. E-commerce is a significant activity of late development in purchases of sporting goods. It is indeed a convenient way to promote and sell products, yet mostly these online sellers prefer to sell counterfeit products rather than the original goods.
In order to obtain more profit, they are willing to sell counterfeit sporting goods and most importantly, the process of selling these non-original sporting goods is trouble-free. The developing openness can be most evidently seen inside the excellent counterfeit goods known as 'super fakes' which have been showing up more every now and again as of late. Counterfeit jerseys, footwear, sports equipment, and a lot more are made to a close careful standard these days.
Despite the fact that it is as yet hard to gauge the effect of 3D imprinting in fake merchandise, plainly it converts into significant upgrades underway quality for the counterfeiters. All that is expected to make non-original sporting products with 3D printers which are indistinguishable from their unique variant are the plan diagrams, which can be found in the profound/dull web. The 3D creation innovation is less work escalated, which decreases the manufacturing costs essentially, making it an alluring new way for falsifying sporting goods.
Upgraded technology of online shopping is an important factor that makes the act of selling counterfeiting sporting goods even more easier. By the usage of social medias’ platforms, the online sellers who are dealing with counterfeit goods deceit their customers to buy fake products. For an example, Instagram and Facebook are platforms which enable both the buyer and seller interact with each other.
Therefore, having the option to communicate with somebody straightforwardly about the sporting goods that they're purchasing constructs trust and a feeling of responsibility. Furthermore, the facilities provided by the social medias’ such as direct messages offers the buyers a option to ask for the accurate and available sporting goods or to reduce the prices of the counterfeit goods.
The sales of counterfeit sporting goods and sportswear through online keep on increasing day by day due to the fact where the online sellers are providing an easy payment method. For an instance, Paypal is one of secured payment techniques that has been utilized by most of the counterfeiters. They give assurance to the purchasers a certainty when they buy the counterfeit goods from the counterfeiters. By this way, counterfeiters acquire the trust of the buyers and keep on selling their non-original products.
Therefore, to tackle this particular issue, the best way is to adopt the Anti-Counterfeit Goods Act passed by France where even if a tourist, is found to bring in counterfeit goods into their country, they could face a jail term or penalty or both together. As such, Malaysia should not hesitate to pass such Act in order to make sure that counterfeit goods especially those famous sportswear brands are protected to ensure Malaysians get the original materials rather than counterfeit products. By passing this Act, it would help to protect the trademarks in sports sectors as many athletes and sportspersons basically use these brands.
Counterfeit sports products are made of unsatisfactory materials and they don't experience thorough quality checks and don't give their best quality and they may effortlessly get spoiled. Ordinarily non-original sports merchandise might be risky for the buyers. For example, sportswear such as helmets are intended to shield the players from wounds. However, they neglect to secure the player and even put the player is a more serious threat, as the players might be enjoying forceful games imagining that they are ensured by their wellbeing gears. Be that as it may, counterfeit sporting goods may be worn when they should protect the players.
The abuse of IPRs can harm a brand without a confusion. Not only that, it goes along with the brand characteristics related with a trademark that can be harmed, or emphasized, in equivalent measure contingent upon how a trademark is utilized. Even though it appears to be impossible on the essence of it that counterfeit sporting goods and sportswear would incur a lot of damage, but in all actuality this isn't generally valid fact.
