A copycat business — a competitor that has replicated your brand identity, your product design, your service model, or your go-to-market approach to the point where customers may be confused between the two — causes harm that is both directly financial and more diffusely reputational. The harm is financial because diverted sales represent lost revenue; it is reputational because the copycat’s quality and conduct reflects, in the minds of confused customers, on the original.
Investigating a copycat business requires establishing the specific elements that have been copied, the extent to which confusion is occurring in the market, and the legal basis on which the copying is actionable: trademark infringement, passing off, copyright infringement, or design right infringement, depending on the specific IP assets that have been appropriated.
What the Investigation Covers
Our corporate investigations experts will deliver a highly detailed level of research to gain the right evidence you need, including:
IP mapping: identifying the specific elements of the original business’s IP that have been replicated, including trademarks, trade dress, designs, and copyright works.
Evidence of confusion: gathering evidence that customers, suppliers, or other market participants have been confused between the original and the copycat, which is central to a passing off or trademark infringement claim.
Corporate intelligence on the copycat: investigation of the copycat business and its principals, establishing who is behind it, their resources, and their history, including any connection to the original business.
Market impact assessment: intelligence about the extent to which the copycat is operating in the same markets as the original, and the scale of any sales diversion.
Dealing with a copycat business? Contact Bond Rees for expert IP investigation and enforcement support.
