Until recent times, countries like Brazil, Russia, India, and China have sometimes been viewed by foreign brand owners as offering insufficient trademark protection. Increasingly, however, the economic successes of these rapidly developing economies appear to be nurturing increasingly sophisticated and responsive legal systems, and particularly with respect to trademark law. Moreover, as these economies become increasingly consumer-oriented, their success appears to be opening new markets for foreign brands, while concurrently providing improved legal protection.
One article of interest that summarizes related issues for brand owners can be found at Managing Intellectual Property. As noted, brand owners will want to become familiar with the law and culture for each jurisdiction and, in many instances, will want to plan on securing trademark (and other IP) protection before doing business in a particular jurisdiction.
The changing legal landscape in these jurisdictions may also aid in policing downstream issues, such as gray market activity. Whether based on a policy of protecting consumers in general or on protecting the workers who would produce and/or sell such goods at otherwise competitive market prices, one example of internal enforcement against parallel market imports – in Russia – can be found at the Gray Blog. Regardless of the motivation, as the producers and consumers in countries like Russia increasingly experience the negative effects of unfair competition, public policy and laws should continue to develop and keep pace with the economic success.