When legal means have been exhausted in the fight against trademark and product piracy (anti-counterfeiting, ACF) in China, the question arises as to alternative approaches. A sustainable effective ACF strategy to regain control over one’s own brand is to strengthen and consolidate the brand in the Chinese market. In doing so, the brand owner leaves behind the counterfeiters who can no longer follow him, not through product innovation, but through system innovation.
The task is to build up a brand system. To do this, the owner of the original brand has a variety of means at its disposal, such as establishing a proprietary Chinese website with utility functions, setting up an ACADEMY with digital education and training programs, or networking with specialized Chinese organizations, university faculties or media. Setting up an official WeChat account for experts, specific blogs and microblogs, and professional journals are also suitable tools.
The strategy of strengthening brands is also gaining in importance against the background of the government’s stimulation of domestic demand (domestic circle) and the government’s promotion of Chinese brands, which are to displace Western brands in the future. However, brand systems cannot be replaced so quickly.
China Intellectual Property Blog 