Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement Manual - Ipr-policy.eu

inform law enforcement about the new identifier; then,
retailers and distributors. Epson provided these groups
with huge blowups of the label to put in their windows,
fliers, and started a contest called Epson Stars to
encourage the sale of legitimate goods. “It was probably
one of the largest marketing undertakings that we’ve
done in Latin America for something that was nonproduct,”
says Kreps. “To make your customers understand
the significance of the problem and why it’s in their best
interests to buy legitimate goods, you really have to view
them as partners in the war on counterfeiting.”
you need to have several options so that if one is
compromised you can immediately move on to the next
one. To keep current with the trends, Epson frequently
meets with security vendors and attends conferences
to learn what is available and its potential effectiveness
for Epson’s products. When it’s time for an update, the
company will likely go to an outside expert once again to
assess options. “Overall,” says Kreps, “we really think the
initial decision to put an authentication feature on our
products has been an excellent one.”
As a result of introducing the technology and by
partnering with local players, Epson saw increased sales
and a decreased market share of illicit products. “The
return on investment on the technology has more than
paid off in terms of recovery and growth of legitimate
sales,” adds Kreps. This effort is, of course, not the only
or the last one that Epson will take to protect its
products. The company continues to maintain an
extensive program in Latin America and elsewhere to
detect counterfeits and take enforcement action
when necessary.
Moving Forward
Counterfeiters continue to find quicker and more
advanced ways to copy products like Epson’s. So the
battle both on the technology front and in other areas
endures. Approximately every other year, Epson educates
its sales force on updated authentication. By contract,
all distributors, retailers, and dealers are obligated to
purchase only Epson products directly from Epson. This
limits “global purchasing” where we know counterfeits
commingle with genuine products. Epson Latin America
also works with law enforcement to conduct store surveys
and service center checks, where the entire inventory is
checked to ensure that there are no counterfeits.
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To the extent that technology is concerned, Epson will
continue to stay at the top of its anti-counterfeiting game
by layering security features. Kreps says that six or seven
years ago, you could go to a technology company looking
for a solution, and they would deliver one option. Today,