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✨ MARK & LAW team wishes you all the best for 2026! ✨

During this festive season of sales and promotions, many products are offered on the market at slashed prices. But behind the sparkling packaging lies a growing phenomenon that is pushing brands to be increasingly vigilant: “dupes.” These products, inspired by or copied from best-sellers—affordable and trendy—are winning over more and more consumers. What Is a “Dupe”? The word dupe comes from the English duplicate. It refers to a product inspired by or copied from another that is fashionable and trending on social media, but sold at a lower price. In essence, a dupe allows consumers to obtain a supposedly equivalent product […]

Over the past decade, environmental ethics, ecology, and corporate responsibility have profoundly transformed consumer expectations and brand communication strategies. Today, they are key marketing arguments—but only when supported by genuine commitments. Otherwise, brands expose themselves to the risk of greenwashing, also known as ecological whitewashing. Greenwashing refers to communication practices that imply—directly or indirectly—that a product or service possesses environmental qualities that are unfounded, misleading, or unverifiable. In some cases, it also consists in diverting the consumer’s attention from the product’s actual environmental impact, which is often far less green than advertised. Examples: • The green packaging of AJAX “Fête […]

NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) burst onto the digital scene with the promise of revolutionising the way creative works are owned and exchanged. But several years after the initial excitement, what remains from a legal standpoint? An NFT is a certificate of authenticity recorded on a blockchain, ensuring the traceability of a digital file. However, it does not confer any intellectual property rights over the content it represents. Purchasing an NFT therefore does not necessarily grant the right to use or reproduce the associated work: only the copyright holder retains exclusive rights. This distinction has given rise to numerous disputes, particularly in […]

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) have published the 2024 report on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) by European customs authorities, both at the EU’s external borders and within the internal market. The full report is available on the EUIPO website as an interactive infographic, which you can explore [here]. 🔹 Impressive figures In 2024, 112 million counterfeit goods were seized, with an estimated value exceeding €3.8 billion. Three quarters of these seized goods mainly concerned the following categories: CDs/DVDs (including software), toys, clothing and fashion accessories, […]

Artificial intelligence, now at the center of every discussion, is taking up more and more space in our lives. This technological (r)evolution, both recent and rapid, is already transforming our habits — sometimes serving as a writing and creative tool, sometimes as a personal assistant, sometimes as an all-knowing encyclopedia, and much more. Yet, as often happens, it comes with a darker side. It did not take long for malicious individuals to exploit AI for various scams. One of the most spectacular and worrying uses is the creation of deepfakes (or “hyperfakes,” for those who prefer the French term). This […]

Blockchain is no longer associated solely with cryptocurrencies: it is now making its way into the world of intellectual property. In March 2025, the Judicial Court of Marseille (1st Civil Chamber, March 20, 2025, RG 23/00046, AZ Factory v. Valeria Moda) recognized for the first time that a timestamp recorded on a blockchain could constitute prima facie evidence of the prior existence of a work. In practical terms, it is enough to record the digital fingerprint of a file (text, photo, source code, etc.) on the blockchain to date its existence in a tamper-proof manner. This technology offers a fast […]

The early version of the 13th edition of the Nice Classification (NCL 13-2026) has been published by WIPO. It outlines the changes scheduled to take effect across the various classes of goods and services starting January 1, 2026. These changes should not be taken lightly: they could directly impact filing strategies as well as the protection of already registered trademarks. Established in 1957 under the Nice Agreement, the Nice Classification is an international classification of goods and services for the purposes of trademark registration. It is an essential tool for anyone registering or managing a trademark. In practical terms, this […]

Unboxing—the act of filming the opening of a product—has become an essential trend on social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. Though seemingly trivial, these videos generate millions of views and directly influence consumer behavior. According to the ZIPDO Education report (May 2025), over half of consumers say they’ve purchased a product after watching an unboxing video, and 84% of viewers report that such videos help them decide whether to buy. A Powerful Marketing Lever These videos highlight not just the product itself, but also its packaging—materials, opening mechanisms, layout, and more. Entire viral trends can emerge, prompting thousands […]

CREATION OF A MAJOR PLAYER OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ATTORNEYS: MARK & LAW JOINS FORCES WITH CABINET DIDIER MARTIN  MARK & LAW, a Trademark law specialist, has been sold to CABINET DIDIER MARTIN a Lyon industrial property law firm. This strategic alliance has given rise to a group of some twenty specialists in Industrial and Intellectual Property, combining complementary expertise and shared values. It will enable MARK & LAW to offer its clients the benefit of CABINET DIDIER MARTIN’s recognised expertise in patent law, while strengthening its digital resources, and CABINET DIDIER MARTIN to consolidate its trademark expertise. As when they […]