Trademarks, Brands and Counterfeiting in Fashion Industry

Brands constitute a very important part of trade and business in the current world. It is the symbolic representation of the quality, source and ingredients of the products. In the current scenario, with rise in globalization, people are more inclined towards high end luxury brands and fashion industry is one of the most demanded one across the world. The brands associated with high end fashion clothing and accessories influence the minds and choice of consumers to this extent that they are ready to purchase it at any cost and sometimes even ready to buy a substitute of lower quality of similar brand, just to have the pride of possessing a luxury brand. This is where the scope of counterfeiting develops and the competitors resort to unfair competition by free riding on the reputation of famous brands and deceiving consumers. Counterfeiters target luxury brands due to their reputation in the market and the consumer trust associated with it. Selling counterfeits of these famous brands become easier by deceiving consumers. Counterfeiting in fashion industry in many cases is injurious to health and interest of the consumers. Use of cheap quality of cosmetics, perfumes or clothing can severely damage skin and cause huge losses to both the consumers and the brand owners apart from increasing scope of organized criminal activities associated with counterfeiting. Such activities are most commonly seen in developing industries due to the consumer demand and also due to weak regulatory mechanism which facilitates the counterfeiters in many ways. Whether high end fashion brands are really affected by such activities or there is a need for strong enforcement of anti counterfeiting law is a matter of concern