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Tag: IP

  • Telstra invests in security company vArmour

    Telstra invests in security company vArmour

    Australian operator Telstra has formed a partnership with – and made an investment in – data center and cloud security company vArmour.

    Under the agreement, investment arm Telstra Ventures has participated in vArmour’s recent $41 million Series D funding round.

    Telstra will also add vArmour’s security offerings to its portfolio of enterprise services. In the long term, the operator said it will also be able to develop security consulting and managed services for its customers.

    The vArmour platform is designed to give organizations application-layer control over their networks to help stave off, detect and respond to cyber threats.

    Jeremy Howe, Telstra’s director of IP Data and Security Solutions, commented that the acquisition is aimed at addressing its enterprise customers’ evolving security demands.

    “We see a growing demand among enterprise customers for solutions that help them secure their data in a private, public and hybrid cloud mix. One of the main concerns companies have in embracing cloud services is data control and security,” he said.

    “vArmour’s distributed security software addresses the problem of traffic blindspots inside data centers. This helps businesses protect themselves from one of the critical emerging threats in the security environment, in addition to the benefits of having greater visibility of what is going on with your data.”

  • Louis Vuitton wins Singapore copycat case

    Louis Vuitton wins Singapore copycat case

    Luxury brand Louis Vuitton has successfully sued a Singapore retailer for selling imitations of its goods.

    The High Court in Singapore ordered Cuffz, a retailer located in Raffles City shopping centre, to pay Louis Vuitton $35,000 in statutory damages for selling wallets which, in the court’s view, “imitated” the French brand’s own products.

    The wallets bore the ‘Epi Mark’, Louis Vuitton’s trademark interweaving ridges and valley in a recognisable two-tone effect, according to court documents.

    Assistant court registrar Edwin San issued a strongly worded written decision  observing Cuffz “demonstrated a contumelious disregard” for Louis Vuitton’s intellectual property rights and was a business which “flagrantly dealt in counterfeit goods”.

    The store closed in May last year soon after a police raid led to the seizure of allegedly infringing goods centreplace in this case.

    While the victory marks a clear win for Louis Vuitton, with the court’s decision leaving little room for misinterpretation, similar such cases in the past have been less clear cut.

    In Hong Kong, six years ago, LV withdrew criminal charges against high profile watch retailer City Chain for trademark infringement, alleging it used the LV flower design in a range of watches. Judges concluded that while the flower patterns were similar to Louis Vuitton’s, they were not identical.

    Louis Vuitton had sought $100,000 in damages – but the case was never about money. It was about Louis Vuitton sending a message to retailers that it was prepared to actively protect its trademarks and intellectual property.