General terms & definitions

Brand abuse is an umbrella term which refers to the exploitation of a third-party’s intellectual property (IP) assets, such as trademarks, copyrighted works, patents, or design rights for profit, personal benefit or for any malicious intent.

All the actions taken online by the rights holder in order to protect a company’s trademarks, designs or patents on social media, online marketplaces, and ecommerce sites.

In the context of online brand protection, it is a ruling issued by a judge against an online seller or offer listing determining that there is, in fact, an intellectual property infringement carried out by a particular seller or contained in a specific offer listing. Certain marketplaces require a court order in order to process design and/or patent infringements.

A legal right creators have over their original, creative work and which allows them to exploit it. The works protected by copyright include literary works, musical works, dramatic works, pantomimes, and choreographic works, pictorial, graphic and sculptural works, motion pictures and other audiovisual works, and sound recordings.

A product that intends to imitate a genuine brand, using its trademarked logo and design without their permission, in order to deceive the customer into buying it.

A legal request people subject to intellectual property infringement claims may submit in order to dispute the corresponding allegations.

A computer program that systematically browses the web and collects information from other sites for the purpose of creating an index that will facilitate future fast searches.

Registering or using an internet domain name with bad-faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.

Short for electronic commerce, it includes any business or commercial transaction conducted through the internet.

When an application uses a company’s trademark or IP in order to appear as an official download of the brand on online app stores.

An unofficial market where goods are sold through channels that have not been authorized by the official supplier. The actual products, however, may not be explicitly illegal, though the practice is generally considered harmful to the original brand,

When a third party attempts to fool others by appearing as the genuine social media outlet or website of a brand.

A form of intellectual property right that protects the visual design of objects. This includes their shape, pattern, color, lines, and aesthetic aspect.

These are rights and legal protections granted to people over the creations of the mind. Intellectual property, or IP, includes trademarks, patents, copyrights, and design rights.

The act of analyzing internet traffic to detect the sales of counterfeit goods, as well as the infringement of patents and copyrights.

A product that resembles another item, but isn’t exactly identical. Knockoffs are usually made with lower quality materials and are usually sold at a cheaper price than the original.

The act of reporting IP-infringing sellers, products and other content online.

Ecommerce site where people can access products and services provided by multiple sellers.

A set of rights granted by a government to a creator in order to protect an invention for a limited period of time. Processes or products that provide a new way of doing something or a solution to a technological problem may be considered inventions.

The unauthorized reproduction and distribution of copyrighted materials on the internet.

A replica product is one that copies the look or the design of an existing product, without infringing on its trademarked name or logo.

Notice and take-down request is a procedure for asking an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or search engine or online marketplace to remove or disable access to illegal or infringing content.

A recognizable word, phrase, symbol or design that identifies the goods and services of a company and distinguishes them from those of others. Trademarks can be owned by individuals, business organizations or legal entities and are protected by intellectual property rights.