How producers of face coverings can fight against counterfeit products?

In one of its recent articles the intellectual property blog IPKat arose the question about the protection of face coverings.

As it is well-known, in the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic many famous fashion houses started to produce face coverings in an attempt to cover the shortage of these products.

These face coverings use specific design decisions and are branded with famous trademarks such as Hermes, Versace and Louis Vuitton.

Unfortunately, because of the fact that the fashion face coverings were in demand, a lot of counterfeit similar copycat products flooded the market.

This is not something unusual but in the case at hand it can be dangerous because the counterfeits are made of cheap materials which means that their protective function is not so strong. This in turn can be a safety risk to the consumer.

So in that regard what are the ways the producers of original face coverings to protect their intellectual property and to prevent the sale of such counterfeits?

1. Trademarks – every trademark owner can prevent sales of products bearing identical or similar marks. In addition, the trademark owner can ask from a court this products to be seized and destroyed.
2. Industrial designs – in case that the design of the face coverings is new and original it can be registered as an industrial design. Based on this registration the design owner can stop every illegal product in the market.
3. Copyright – if the face covering’s design is original art work, it can be protected by the copyright law too. Bear in mind, however, that the enforcement of copyright rights can be more complex than in the case of trademarks and designs.
4. Border measures – every owner of intellectual property ( such as trademarks, designs, copyright, patents), can require from the Border Authorities of every country to seize importation of products that violate its intellectual property rights.

All of these measures can be used not only from the producers of face coverings but of another protective clothing too.