Brand Protection

Brand protection services help customers safeguard their intellectual property and trade secrets and minimize risk from unauthorized subcontracting.

Over the past few decades, brands have increasingly sought strengthened value through offshoring and outsourcing manufacturing or assembly to businesses around the world.

These upstream supply chain partners represent a globalization of brand identity and value to tap into new markets and expand business opportunities. However, globalization has also created unease for many brands. Many are asking how can we be sure our Intellectual Property (IP) and trade secrets are not compromised by our supply chain partners?

Grey market goods are seeping into emerging economies and online. Customer orders are sometimes produced in quantities that exceed the order, forming unauthorized overruns. Brands are also finding subcontracting of their products to unsecured, unauthorized subcontractors. This has put many multinational brand at risk in unexpected markets. These situations pose an increasing threat and yet, many companies still do not assess their risks regarding brand reputation as frequently as they monitor social, labor and environmental compliance.

The Stanford Business School reports in Similarities in Managing Supply Chain Sustainability and Intellectual Property, “Over the last few decades, intangible assets and IP have become increasingly important in knowledge-based economies and have gained a high relevance for the economic success and value creation of firms. As much as 75% of most organizations’ value and revenue sources are in intangible assets, IP and proprietary competitive advantages. Despite that, IP often times does not receive the same kind of attention in the press or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports.”

The International Chamber of Commerce estimates that the total global economic and social impacts of counterfeit and pirated products reached about USD775 billion in 2008, and was estimated to more than double to USD1.7 trillion in the decade that followed.

At ELEVATE, brand protection assessment services have been a leading competency since the company was founded. Our global footprint covering over 100+ countries gives ELEVATE direct access to our customers’ suppliers with an immediacy absolutely necessary to thwart any infringements and trade theft. ELEVATE’s brand protection assessment services help customers to proactively mitigate risks associated with the counterfeiting of products or the unauthorized subcontracting of manufacturing activities.

Our key services related to brand protection are:

• Brand protection risk assessment
• Unauthorized subcontracting investigations
• Destruction verification