THE GLOBAL TOYS MARKET WILL REACH A 100 BILLION TURNOVER BY 2023

• • According to data from the study by Smart Protection, 18% of respondents are unaware that counterfeit toys are advertised and sold online. 58% of the illegal content already reaches consumers through social media, and 38% of it does it through marketplaces.
• • “The main purchase inducer is the safety of products for children up to 4 years of age. Authorities, regulatory bodies, and the industry must focus on safety as the core of their actions to effectively fight against counterfeits,” AIJU said at the conference.
• • “Offline and online monitoring tools are essential to protect our products and/or services, but this is no longer enough: the key to the global protection of trademarks is also to have a definition of the legal trademark strategy”, said PONS IP

Madrid, December 3, 2020.- The Technological Institute for Children’s and Leisure Products (AIJU), PONS IP, a global company specialized in providing comprehensive advice in intellectual property, and its technological partner, Smart Protection, have held an online meeting to address the threat to business activity associated not only with the online sale of counterfeit children’s and leisure products, but also with the health of citizens.

In a context where households have transformed the way they make purchases and have increased the use of e-commerce through marketplaces, social networks, websites and apps, having tools to detect and combat the threat of counterfeits in the children’s products sector is essential to reverse this global trend. This was one of the main conclusions reached by Nuria Marcos, the general manager at PONS IP, and Ana Sanchez, the technical director of AIJU, during the welcome to the digital meeting, pointing out that the safety of a product in the field of toys is not only an objective value for trademarks but also a value that may be demanded by authorities and platforms responsible for ensuring the safety and health of the products they offer to citizens, especially to the most vulnerable ones”.

Following the same line of thought, Mari Cruz Arenas, the Head of Child Safety projects at AIJU, shared some relevant figures regarding online sales, counterfeits, and their consequences for the safety and health of children’s products. “The coronavirus pandemic has been an accelerated catalyst for this phenomenon due to a growth of 30% during the lockdown and a significant impact on the toy industry as one of the most demanded products for purchase in the online field. Marketplaces and authorities must have tools to enforce IP rights and avoid health risks and distrust in the system,” said the head of AIJU.

The global toys market generated 81.3 billion euros in 2018 and is expected to reach 100 billion euros by 2023. However, the availability of counterfeit toys online is still a threat to consumer confidence and the reputation of trademarks. According to data presented during the meeting, up to 58% of illegal content already reaches consumers through social media, and 38% of it does it through marketplaces.

“The industry of products for children is particularly vulnerable to the exponential growth of counterfeits on the Internet,” says Mariano Galan, the Chief Commercial & Customers Officer at Smart Protection. “Apart from the disappointment of a consumer receiving the product and identifying that it is not an original product, the toy may pose a threat and a risk to the child. In both cases, this situation poses a reputational risk to original trademarks that is even greater than in other industries oriented to products used by adults.”

Therefore, according to data collected from the study carried out by Smart Protection, 55% of Spanish respondents confessed that they had bought a counterfeit toy or board game online without knowing it. In that sense, less than half of the respondents, that is, 46.61% of them are sure that they can distinguish a counterfeit toy or board game online from the original one, while 48.67% of them are not sure if they can.

How do we deal with online threats to children’s products?

Karina Pernías, the Head of the Child Safety area at AIJU, outlined current and future regulations, actions, and challenges in the field of products targeted to vulnerable people, including toys. According to Pernías, “studies demonstrate that the main purchase inducer is the safety of products for children up to 4 years old. Let us all, authorities, regulatory bodies and the industry, focus on safety, placing it at the core of our actions to effectively fight against counterfeits and provide the safety that citizens demand in their purchase process for products targeted at our children,” demanded the head of AIJU.

Finally, the Trademark Manager at PONS IP, Carmen Gonzalez, pointed out that due to a growth forecast of over 40% for e-commerce on a worldwide level until 2023, “nowadays, off-line and on-line monitoring tools are essential to protect our products and/or services, but this is no longer enough: the key to the global protection of trademarks is also to have a definition of the legal trademark strategy that is appropriate to our markets and uses.

During her intervention, the lawyer of PONS IP recommended adapting the online presence to a strategy for trademarks, protecting logos anywhere we operate, both physical and online, regarding the products and services that we are going to offer according to the current use. Finally, she mentioned the importance of carrying out periodic audits of the trademark portfolio to optimize both the protection and the resources we allocate to the protection of intangible assets.