The U.S. Department of Commerce hosted a round table discussion titled Protecting Intellectual Property Rights at Trade Shows on December 6, 2005. The discussion provided an opportunity for intellectual property holders, trade show representatives, U.S. Customs Officials and members of trade associations to voice their opinions on the effectiveness of the current intellectual property policing methods at trade events. The intent of the discussion was to allow these attendees to opine on the prevalence of counterfeit and infringing goods at the trade events and evaluate possible solutions.

The intellectual property owners explained the need for stricter standards to protect their rights at trade events and asked the trade event organizers to take a more active role in policing the events for counterfeit and infringing products. The trade event organizers countered by explaining the difficulties they have in consistently identifying the counterfeit or infringing goods and taking action.

For example, in the case of copyright and trademark infringement, if the operator has the proper information, it may visually identify the infringement and shut down the exhibit or ask the exhibitor to remove the item. Patent infringements provide a greater challenge because the infringement is not visually identifiable. Thus, some of the trade show organizers explained that they would only take responsibility to shut down the exhibit with a court order.

Several parties provided possible solutions. The intellectual property owners explained that it has been effective when the trade event organizers assign specific individuals to the events to shut down the infringing exhibits. This also allows these owners to know whom to contact at the show to provide information about the supplier or manufacturer of the goods. The trade show organizers explained that it would be helpful to have the intellectual property owners contact them prior to the show to provide details on the infringing goods. In addition, it may be necessary for the intellectual property owners to obtain judicial intervention.

In addition, the Department of Commerce discussed their Trade Fair Certification Program, which allows the U.S. Government to endorse and approve certain foreign trade events. The Program offers some comfort to intellectual property owners, as it will obligate the trade show to require all exhibitors to sign an agreement affirming that their actions will not violate any third party intellectual property rights. Thus, the intellectual property owners would have a breach of contract claim in addition to a claim under copyright, trademark or patent laws.

Finally, officials from the U.S. Customs Office proffered several solutions for trade events on U.S. soil – including having companies record their intellectual property with the U.S. Customs Office, training Customs officials, and providing Customs Officers with a manual describing the intellectual property at issue. The Office stressed the importance of educating the U.S. Customs Officials, as it will give them the information they need to stop more counterfeit goods at the U.S. border.

Overall the forum enabled persons from the different industry sectors to get together to discuss the various viewpoints and work towards a solution. We are tracking this issue and will keep you updated.

Anthony Lupo
202-857-6353
lupo.anthony@arentfox.com

Sarah Bruno
202-775-5760
bruno.sarah@arentfox.com