99
Infringing platforms and marketplaces
3,620+
Counterfeits removed
95%
Enforcement success rate
Tatami was inundated with counterfeits across multiple sales channels, from dedicated websites to well-known online marketplaces. Counterfeiters were offering their products at 30% of the retail price and promoting the fakes on social media. Despite Tatami’s best efforts to remove these sites, counterfeiters were able to relaunch sites under new domains and repost items under new seller IDs.
Red Points detected Tatami’s counterfeit products and reached out to them directly. The Tatami team was initially cautious, believing they would need the services of a lawyer to enforce their trademark and copyright. However, after trialing Red Points it became clear that the tech solution Red Points offered was able to cover their problems on social media and websites more comprehensively and cost-effectively than any traditional law firm could.
Tatami has seen the removal of hundreds of trademark infringements. With their staff trained to use Red Points software, they can see the status of each infringement and the number of incidents that occur each day. With Red Points, Tatami can maintain its brand integrity and prevent counterfeits from cheapening its brand value over time.
Tatami Fightwear
Tatami was founded in Wales in 2009 by two martial artists, Gareth Dummer and Lee Jones. The company was created to address the problem of finding good-quality fightwear in Europe that didn’t cost an armbar and a leg.
The brand is now one of the most well-respected producers of martial arts clothing in the world. The company remains true to its goal of making martial arts accessible to all by working with young people in deprived areas of the UK and continuing to produce affordable, quality equipment.
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tatamifightwear.com
Sportswear Industry
South Wales, UK
Founded in 2009 by Lee Jones and Gareth Drummer, Tatami could not have had a more humble and honest beginning. The two met when Mr Jones took his children to a Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) class where Gareth Drummer was the coach.
The pair, both BJJ enthusiasts, realized that there was a lack of affordable, stylish, and good-quality BJJ equipment available. Mr. Jones had been injured in an explosion at the Port Talbot steelworks and decided to invest his compensation in the then-fledgling brand.
Through a dedication to quality and rigorous product testing, Tatami is now a world-renowned BJJ brand. The founders have forged a name for themselves on the back of the quality and style of their fightwear. In addition, they have continued to invest in their local community, providing jobs and opportunities.
Tatami began noticing fake items on social media offered at large discounts. Tatami is a world-class brand, but run by a small team that started the time-consuming process of reporting items manually. Despite their best efforts, they soon found that these same products were being reposted within days or hours of being removed, with new usernames and linking to new domains.
To add insult to injury, Tatami’s wholesalers began to voice their concerns about the flood of cheap fakes online. The team was struggling to stay on top of the snowballing counterfeit problem.
Naturally, the founders assumed they would need to begin traditional legal proceedings to protect the trademarks and copyrights they had already spent considerable time and money registering internationally.
The Tatami team knew they would have to take action, they were not prepared to let counterfeiters offer low-quality products in their name. Initially the brand had suffered from fakes being made from their most popular products with innovative designs.
The problem had grown to such a point that counterfeiters were applying the Tatami trademark to products that they didn’t even produce. Eventually, when Red Points reached out to them, they were prepared to take a different approach to brand protection.
After a short trial, the Tatami team was convinced that Red Points were the most effective solution to their ongoing counterfeit problem. Within months, Red Points’ software was able to remove hundreds of cases of trademark and copyright infringement online. The Tatami team now spends just a small proportion of their time using the platform to achieve comprehensive online brand protection, giving their business partners and customers peace of mind.
The Tatami team believes they have found an efficient solution to their problem. However, the fight against counterfeits is an ongoing battle and they are aware that it’s only through constant monitoring and protection that they will keep counterfeiters at bay. Finally, as a word of caution to their peers, Tatatmi’s staff said that now they are protected, their competition and other fightwear brands will be softer targets for counterfeiters. In short, the only way to ensure a fair and safe market for customers is for each brand to take responsibility for their online brand protection.