Sep 21, 2021 11:29:41 AM
Last week was a busy week at Stobbs for IP events!
Last week was a busy week at Stobbs for IP events!

Harri attended the Fashion Law seminar organised by Fashion Law London and held at the Oxford and Cambridge Club. The event’s speakers were Eleonora Rosati, Giulia Gasparin and Rosie Burbidge. The topics covered included a detailed overview of IP rights relevant to fashion, along with relevant case studies, an in depth look at designs in the context of the fashion industry, disputes and e-commerce strategies.

It was refreshing to attend a fashion seminar that extended its focus beyond trade marks and copyright to look more deeply into the broader issues and challenges facing fashion brands, as well as considering the practical aspects of these issues.

The umbrella term ‘fashion law’ covers a wide range of legal and commercial issues (one of which is IP) and even within IP, there are an increasing number of legal issues relevant to the fashion industry, particularly in view of the ever increasing dominance of an online presence for fashion brands, and the infringement issues this presents.

The talk on the opportunities and threats presented by e-commerce, a review of IT solutions and distribution models, digital strategies and competition issues was especially interesting.

Martyna and Hermon attended the MarkMonitor Spring Symposium held at The Ned, the former Midland Bank building.

The full-day event hosted several speakers who shared their knowledge and experience on a wide range of issues relating to managing and protecting brands’ presence and reputations online. Speakers included Trevor Albery and Abigail Roos of entertainment giants Warner Brothers and Sky respectively, as well as Jack Randles and Kate Anthony Wilkinson of luxury brands, Manolo Blahnik and Mulberry, who gave us an insightful perspective on the challenges facing in-house legal teams when it comes to online enforcement within the fashion industry.

Another highlight was a presentation given by Steve Hewitt, CEO of Gymshark Ltd. Steve described the wonderful journey of how this solely e-commerce fashion brand has informed its brand and online presence not according to traditional methods, but through listening to and understanding its young consumers to achieve its status as the UK’s fastest-growing fashion company.

Above all, it was very useful to learn from Steve Coates of Amazon.com and various MarkMonitor speakers on how they manage domains, and tackle counterfeits being sold online both offensively and pre-emptively, alongside strategies for dealing with IPR abuse online, phishing and piracy attempts.

Harri, Martyna and Hermon are all part of a specialist team at Stobbs, which focuses on online brand enforcement, fashion law, anti-counterfeiting and offline infringements and customs. If you have a question about any of the above topics, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.


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