Building a business from scratch takes a lot of time, effort, and money. From choosing materials and designing to the production process and shipping, you need to be strategic and effective in every aspect to become successful. However, in between long-term strategies and planning, most businesses forget to monitor intellectual property rights, which often leads to severe infringement losses.
As a universally useful and functional type of bag, wallets cater to a wide range of people. Regardless of age or generation, everyone requires a wallet. The one thing about wallets is that almost all types of wallets come with just a little bit of style difference.
This means the main purpose of a wallet is to store your cards, cash, and some important notes. So, manufacturers design wallets with the same functionality. There is a high chance that 2 businesses end up having the same style of wallet with almost the same functionality. Now, this could lead to severe infringements.
If you are a wallet business owner, you just need to learn effective ways to avoid these infringement losses before you lose your business, money, and reputation. This blog will help you understand which types of infringement losses you may encounter while running a wallet business and how you can effectively avoid them in the future.
Types of Infringement Loses in Wallet Business
Infringement in businesses occurs when one business intentionally or unintentionally copies, steals, or uses other businesses’ intellectual property. Intellectual property in the wallet business means the wallet’s design, look, or name.
Suppose you just launched an exclusive line of your new wallets. You get a lot of appreciation for the new launch, and everyone likes the new wallet. But then, one day, you start seeing a decline in your sales. When you look into the matter, you come across another brand selling the same wallet.
Now, consumers, instead of buying your wallets, are buying the fake copy of your wallet. This is called the infringement of your intellectual property. The situation can sometimes be reversed; for example, you launch a new product, and another brand may claim that you have hurt their intellectual property rights.
Wallet businesses can face multiple infringement losses. Some of them may include patents, trademarks, inventions, and copyright infringement. To avoid these infringement losses, you must know what they are. So, let’s take a look at each type.
1. Invention Patent Infringement
Patent refers to an intellectual property protection that manufacturers or businesses get when they invent or produce a new product. The patent protects the product’s design under the owners’ exclusive rights. In terms of wallet businesses, an invention patent protects wallet design and production from being copied or stolen by other businesses. If any other business uses the same design in their wallets, it would be called invention patent infringement.
There are three different types of patents: design patent, utility patent, and plant patent. Each patent is used in different businesses and for different products. As for your wallet business, you must be aware of design patents. Make sure that whenever you produce a new line of wallets, you get your exclusive design patent to protect its authenticity later in the market.
A design patent for a product lasts for 15 years. This means that if you produce a new wallet and get a design patent for it, no one can use your wallet’s design, style, or appearance for the next 15 years. If anyone does use your design, you have the full right to sue them in court.
The same will happen to you if you don’t do proper research before designing your new wallet because it may match with other patent designs, which might cause serious patent infringement losses later.
2. Trademark Infringement
Trademarks represent the product’s source, such as its brand. Words, logos, slogans, 3D signs, textures, scents, and even sound can be the trademarks of your product. A common example of this is the brand logo you often see on the wallets of big brands like Chanel, YSL, Dior, Hermes, and Prada.
Federal law or state law protects intellectual property rights for your trademarks. Every trademark registered under Federal law gets the market of ®. Whereas the products under the state mark use “SM” or “™.”
A trademark’s protection registered under Federal law lasts for almost 10 years. However, you can easily renew it every ten years for a lifetime with only one condition: the mark will still be used in the market.
Now, the question is when a trademark infringement occurs. If you use or create a trademark that is similar to any other existing trademark, it can lead to trademark infringement. A literal example of trademark infringement is the fake copies of big brands’ products. Although they somehow lack quality, they feature the logo of the original brand, which results in trademark infringement.
So, before launching your brand trademark, you must ensure that your trademark logo doesn’t match with any other existing trademark. Otherwise, it would lead to severe business losses.
3. Copyright Infringement
Copyright refers to a protected law that protects your work in a tangible medium. In the case of a wallet business, your data includes a database, business proposal, market plan text, annual reports, financial forecasts’ numbers, and calculations, devices’ technical specifications, operation manual, and even architectural plans. All of these can be protected under your copyrights.
Copyright infringement occurs when one business intentionally or unintentionally copyrighted works in its business. Well, copyright infringement often occurs intentionally.
Now, you can become prey to copyright infringement if you do not do your research and use other business data for your business plan. Whether it is an image that you use in your social media campaign or a market plan you use for marketing, you must ensure that you are using exclusive content that is open to the public and not copyrighted.
The Importance of Intellectual Property Protection
Intellectual property is the backbone of any brand. For wallet businesses, protecting your IP ensures your innovations and unique designs are safeguarded, allowing you to maintain a competitive edge. It also helps build brand identity, attract customers, and potentially increase the business’s overall valuation.
Ridge Wallet Patent Case
One notable example of the importance of IP protection in the wallet business is the Ridge Wallet patent case.
Ridge Wallet specializes in producing high quality sleek, minimalist wallets. All of the Ridge wallet designs are protected under patent. Recently, the company filed a patent infringement case against Mountain Voyage LLC. Ridge claims that Mountain Voyage stole the patent design from their wallet and sold it on the market.
Whereas the court didn’t fully agree with Ridge. They said Ridge couldn’t claim broad protection for a minimalist wallet design. Why? Because lots of companies make slim wallets, being minimalist is kind of the point. But it wasn’t a total loss for Ridge. The court did say some specific features of Ridge’s wallet might be protected. They just narrowed down what Ridge could claim as uniquely theirs.
This example shows that It is quite tough to claim ownership of a general style or trend, specifically in the wallet business. Being a wallet company, you need to have really specific, unique elements to your product if you want to stop others from making similar stuff.
10 Effective Strategies To Avoid Infringement Loses In Wallet Business
1. Register Your Intellectual Property
The first step you must take to avoid any infringement is to register your intellectual properties. Get the patent for your new designs, copyrights for your tangible work, and trademark logos of your brand. By registering your company’s intellectual property, you have full rights of ownership. This significantly helps you and gives you the upper hand if you ever get into a court dispute.
2. Legal Compliance Reviews
If you want to avoid any legal court cases later, it is better to follow all the rules and regulations beforehand. For this, do a regular legal compliance review of your company. Whenever you design a new wallet, make sure to thoroughly research the market so that nobody is already using that design for their patent. Once you are assured, then apply for the design patent and secure your design from being stolen and copied later.
Ensure your trademark is registered or renewed under federal or state law. Register all your tangible work regularly as soon as you release one. A regular legal compliance review helps you ensure that your wallet business practices align with the current Intellectual Property laws. This saves you from incurring any initial losses later.
3. Originality In Product Design
Although it is difficult to develop new designs of wallets every time, we still focus on creating unique designs. Add your personal touch to the wallet. Introduce your style and use it in your wallets. In short, you must focus on creating and designing only original and unique products. For this, do thorough market research and ensure that your product does not match with any other existing patent design to avoid infringement. Original designs attract more viewers and increase your reputation in the industry. Moreover, they also protect you from getting into any legal issues.
4. Monitor Market Trends
The best way to create unique designs is to stay updated with the market trends. The needs and interests of consumers keep changing with time. Understanding their specific needs and current market trends helps you create the original designs that might be difficult with a universal functional wallet. Use the latest services and tools to analyze Intellectual Property fillings, which gives you deep insights into the latest competitors in the market.
5. Personally Photograph Each Product
If you want to avoid copyright infringement, do not use pictures of other brands for your products. Personally photoshoot your every product and document the process. Shoot behind the scenes and post on your social media. Record and document the process while you photograph each product. This stage serves as evidence in case you ever get caught in a dispute later. Opt for high-quality images and videos to improve your marketing and support your originality claims.
6. Always Sell White Label Products If You Import Your Products
If you are a small wallet business owner who usually imports their products from manufacturers instead of manufacturing themselves, then consider selling white-label products.
White labeling refers to a process in which one brand buys its products from another company and then rebrands them under its own label. This strategy allows you to brand your imported products under your brand name. This also protects you from infringing on the intellectual property of other brands.
Because manufacturers have a long list of clients, such as wholesalers, retailers, shoppers, Amazon sellers, and other small business owners, if you use the same design without personalizing it with your brand name, there is a high chance of getting into infringement cases.
7. Pay Close Attention To Trademark Names
Always be careful while selecting the names of your brand and products. With the rising competition in the market, your brand name may match the already registered trademark. This could lead to severe infringement cases later.
Therefore, always do thorough market research and search for brand names. Check registered databases, search social media, and other official business sites. Choose a name that is unique and is not relevant in any way to existing brands to avoid potential legal issues.
8. Use NDAs Between Employees, Partners, Factory, and Importer
Sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) with your manufacturers, importers, employers, partners, and factory managers. A legal NDA protects your design concept, proprietary information, and other copyright data from being disclosed to your competitors. The document guarantees to keep your sensitive information confidential and safe.
9. Hire An Attorney
Whether you are a small wallet business just starting or have been in the market for some time, you must have an attorney specializing in the wallet industry. Having an attorney by your side helps you deal with the complete IP laws, patent registrations, trademarks, and copyrights. As they are with you from the start and know your working process from start to end, they can better defend your case later if you have any and protect you from infringement losses.
10. Risk Management And Insurance
Investing in IP insurance is another effective strategy to avoid infringement loss in your wallet business. This protects your wallet business from potential infringement claims in the future. The insurance covers the legal costs and damages you may encounter during infringement lawsuits. At the same time, having a risk management strategy helps your wallet business deal with legal challenges effectively.
Shopping Guide
At Mherder, we produce high-quality leather wallets. Our craftsmen use only premium quality Italian leather to make leather wallets manually. When each wallet is made by hand, it adds much more value to the products. We deliver products to a vast range of clients like small business owners, wholesalers, retailers, Amazon sellers, and shoppers.
If you want to start your small wallet business and are looking for a reliable manufacturer, you can trust Mherder. Our unique and flexible customization offers allow you to create unique designs and wallets representing your brand themes and image. You can also make changes in each product and rebrand them as per your business and market needs. This significantly protects you from hurting other intellectual property and facing infringement losses.
Final Thoughts
Businesses spend so much time, money, and effort to develop and get successful. However, you can get entangled in severe infringement losses if you do not protect your brand’s and product’s rights. Infringement refers to intentionally or unintentionally using, stealing, and remaking the products of other protected brands. Various types of intellectual property rights protect your design, invention, and assets from getting copied, stolen, and reproduced without your consent.
The wallet business is a sensitive industry, where you may often get into infringement cases without knowing it. Therefore, you must ensure that your brand trademark, product design, and tangible assets are protected under the law. Do thorough market research before branding and designing your brand and product to avoid infringement losses. Hire an attorney and seek legal help from them. Partner with only reliable wallet manufacturers. If you are wondering how to import your next wallet bulk batch, you can trust Mherder. Contact us or visit our website to learn 5 essential tips for selecting the best wallet company for your private label brand.
