On February 4, 2022, Kristen Ruisi was quoted in Managing Intellectual Property on her expectations for trademark bad actors in 2022.
According to the article, counterfeiters try to outdo themselves every year by using more abhorrent tactics to sell low-quality and often dangerous fake goods to unsuspecting consumers. While most counterfeiters will likely operate under the radar as much as possible, others could become more brazen and actually register for trademark rights or find other ways to impersonate legitimate companies.
Ruisi says she’s seen one instance where a counterfeiter got into a secretary of state office, accessed a company’s public legal document, and changed the names of some of the officers who were listed on that paper. The fraudster used that document in China to make its operations appear legitimate. Ruisi’s team got the document changed, however. “But we’re now constantly monitoring to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” she says.
Ruisi adds that counterfeiters will likely also increase their presences on social media platforms this year, which they typically use to send private messages to potential consumers. These messages are difficult to track, she points out.