Rowan Scores Third Court Victory in a Row Combating Counterfeit Goods
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, total e-commerce sales increased by 32.4 percent in 2020 [1]. 2021 shows no sign of slowing down despite the opening of the “brick and mortar” economy, with the 2021 Q1 e-commerce estimate increasing by 39.1% [2].
As we look at trends over the past year for non-Rowan clients, it is clear that at best the percentage of counterfeit goods has maintained a consistent pace, but for some sectors we’ve seen up to 21% increases.
Rowan TELS and our clients are not sitting back waiting to see if counterfeit sales increase in their sector. Instead, our clients have worked cooperatively with industry competitors and with Rowan TELS to protect their well-earned reputation for quality, safe, and reliable products by reducing counterfeit sales. And we’ve now scored our third legal victory in a row, on behalf of Cisco and Ciena, against a large counterfeiter selling large amounts of counterfeit electronic products from China into the US.
The string of successes that Rowan’s clients have enjoyed shows the power of the US court system as a practical and effective tool in the fight against counterfeit products. The results of the injunctions we have received demonstrate that a court order is more powerful and wider reaching than a simple cease-and-desist letter or website takedown request. A broad federal court order allows brand owners to more quickly and effectively enforce their rights than they have ever been able to before.
Rowan TELS employs two differentiators in our approach to maximize the impact on counterfeiters. First, we are using the courts which play a crucial, but until now, rarely used, role in combating online global counterfeiters. The courts can go well beyond what a company can ask for in a cease-and-desist letter, making the impact on counterfeiters more widespread. Our injunctions have gone beyond just taking down a site and have included removing the seller from internet searches, freezing its assets, and barring carriers such as FedEx and DHL from shipping these products. On a long term basis, the repercussions of violating a US court order are substantially stronger than ignoring a cease-and-desist letter or takedown request.
The second differentiator that Rowan employs is what makes it possible to effectively use the courts: getting companies to work together. A group effort to fight the flow of counterfeit goods creates significantly greater cost effectiveness and enforcement efficiency than the results received by individual companies acting alone. This efficiency benefits the companies, the courts and all the participants in the distribution chain where enforcement occurs.
You can read more about Rowan’s previous victories here:
