Tencent: 'Litigation's not the only way to tackle counterfeits'
The Chinese tech conglomerate publishes report showing increases in ‘crowdsourced’ reporting and criminal cases | Number of global brands using the Brand Protection Platform on Weixin rises | Danny Marti, head of global affairs, tells WIPR why platform is “unique”.
China-based tech conglomerate Tencent has announced an uptick in the number of counterfeits and trademark infringements identified and intercepted via its Weixin Brand Protection Platform (BPP).
Weixin, the Chinese sister app to WeChat, is a kind of ‘super app’, described by Tencent as a “multifaceted communication service that bridges private interactions and public discourse”.
Launched in 2011, the app offers direct messaging and group chats, as well as e-commerce services used by brands to sell goods and engage with consumers.
It also offers a ‘crowd-sourced’ reporting system that enables users to report IP infringements.
This reporting facility, described as a “one-stop portal”, is used by IP rights owners to access, submit and review user leads, takedown notices, and enforcement metrics across personal accounts.
There were almost 27,000 personal account enforcement actions, an increase of 365% from the same period (January to August) in 2022, according to the report released this week (April 17).
More than 5,200 brand channels and official accounts, and more than 11,500 suspicious account registrations or name-change attempts on Weixin’s ‘mini-programs’ (brand platforms), were blocked.
Almost 190,000 (97%) of takedown notices originated from Weixin users.
The report also showed a slight increase in the number of trademark keywords on a database managed within Weixin: 30,000 for brand channels and 29,000 for official accounts and mini-programs—up by 1,000 and 2,000 respectively.
With regard to offline IP enforcement, Weixen said it supported 24 criminal cases with a total value of $260 million (up from $42 million in 2022), through collaboration with brand owners and legal authorities. This represents a tenfold increase compared with 2021.
'Unique' aspect of platform
Danny Marti, head of global public policy at Tencent, described 2023 as a “pivotal year in our ongoing efforts to protect brands and Weixin users”.
In an interview with WIPR, he highlighted the “unique” aspect of BPP’s user-generated reporting function.
“Many global brands that are doing business in Asia have a presence on Weixin,” he said. These brands, he told WIPR, engage with Chinese and other consumers via official accounts, and mini-programs within Weixin.
“We work with these brands in that space, and we also work with brands to protect and enforce their intellectual property rights across the platform,” he added.
When asked whether this was the best way to tackle IP infringements, he said: “It's one way to tackle it, and it is an important way—punishing bad actors, sending the right signal that this type of illicit activity is not tolerated on the platform.
“But when you have a large platform with a high volume of users, bringing actions is not the only way out of the mess [of counterfeits].”
However, he added that the crowdsource reporting function within Weixin is “one of the things I think we do uniquely across the world.
“That's quite different [from] what you see on many platforms. These crowdsourced leads can be—and are—shared, with brands within BPP, who can then investigate, confirm, and we can take appropriate action.”
Marti explained that Weixin can input brands’ trademark portfolios into its database, as well as some trademark-adjacent terms.
“So we can block confusingly similar registrations at the account level or later through the name changes, which also helps,” he added.
“Brands have been quite complimentary [about] how that alone stops issues down the road. It's not a perfect analogy, but it's equivalent to cybersquatting.”
Brand engagement
Weixin now has more than 570 members using the BPP from 26 countries and regions, across more than 30 industries. Brands use the platform to sell goods such as clothing, cosmetics, jewellery, and household goods.
One of those brands is Levi Strauss. Zach Toczyński, senior director, global brand protection at Levi Strauss, said: “Tencent has demonstrated a genuine dedication to working hand-in-hand with brands, like Levi’s, to tackle intellectual property concerns effectively.”
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