Bonnington Plastics, owner of the Kingfisher gardening and homeware brand, has joined forces with intellectual property experts at law firm Pannone Corporate to host a free seminar on IP and brand protection. It’s open to all interested suppliers.
Bonnington has been battling online IP infringement for more than two years and last month announced it had reached an £80,000 out-of-court settlement with a group of serial infringers.
Now, the Nottingham-based importer is looking to share its experiences of the struggle against “substitute selling” and raise awareness of the issue which it believes is one of the current biggest threats to online retailers.
Over the past 12 months, Bonnington has issued claims against nine companies and their directors for IP violations, including trademark infringement, passing off and breach of copyright and has secured numerous settlement pay-outs totalling almost £100,000.
Bonnington’s managing director, Ian Fisher, said: “A couple of years ago, we noticed that a few companies were advertising their own products under Kingfisher listings on Amazon but we had no idea of the true scale of the problem at that time. Some of the companies we have gone after were listing huge numbers of Kingfisher products and 100 per cent of the items they were supplying under these listings were their own-branded goods.
“I want to share what we have learned and show other companies, especially my customers and competitors, how to protect their brands and stop unscrupulous companies damaging their businesses. This is a problem that we all have to come together to fight. If we don’t take action now, there will be no future for any of us.”
In order to monitor the sales of goods advertised under Kingfisher listings, Bonnington teamed up with Williams Commerce, an IT company based in Leicester, to develop innovative new software to help focus the company’s investigations. The software allows Bonnington to track which companies are selling its products on Amazon and eBay and identifies companies which are not customers of Bonnington.
The seminar will be delivered by Bonnington’s in-house legal team and IP specialists from Manchester law firm, Pannone Corporate, and will feature a demonstration of the software.
Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss their own experience of online IP infringement and benefit from advice from lawyers who have pioneered the approach to tackling this threat to internet retail.
Sarah Bazaraa, an IP solicitor with Pannone Corporate, said: “Bonnington has been relentless in its pursuit of online infringers and I think that it is fantastic that it is looking to share its knowledge with the market. At the end of the day, ridding online selling platforms of these substitute sellers is a benefit, not just for Bonnington and its customers, but for internet retailers in general”.
The seminar will be held on April 15 between 2pm and 4pm. Anyone interested in attending should reserve their place by sending an email with their name, company name and contact details to aidan@bonningtonplastics.com.
