Intellectual Property Online Infringement of IP – The Dark Side of the Digital Age
The Internet today has efficiently created a wide range of opportunities for business firms, companies, organizations, and individuals to communicate their brand messages and reach their target audience. However, keeping aside the Internet’s openness, versatility, and global reach, its unregulated character has created a fertile ground for Trademark and Copyright Infringement too. In the broadest sense, online Intellectual Property (IP) infringement covers the sale of counterfeit products and services through the Internet and a variety of its activities, including cybersquatting, phishing, SEO, and unsolicited email marketing. These activities make up for what we may refer to as the dark side of the digital era. According to various reports and surveys conducted, the fastest growing area of counterfeit trading and Intellectual Property Infringement is online. Companies can’t nowadays depend on conventional legal remedies for dealing with trademark and copyright abuse on the Internet. Therefore, they must build a proactive and multifaceted strategy for Copyright and Trademark Protection, which must offer effective methods of adapting to the challenges of the online environment. It should also help the companies in overcoming some of the limitations in the conventional legal approach. For instance, like other forms of Intellectual Property Law, the Trademark Law is also governed by the principles of territoriality. However, on the Internet, it is quite easy to maintain an