Detectives may be used during Commonwealth Games

Private snooping agents may be used to carry out special checks on violation of Intellectual Property Rights on official trademarks and brand merchandise of the Commonwealth Games next year to avoid monetary loss to the tune of crores of rupees.

The organising committee of the games has explored the possibility with the private detectives association.

The spies will garner information from around the national capital region where small industrial units and individuals are said to indulge in manufacturing of duplicate and fake logos, symbols, sporting gear, apparels and other goods bearing official holograms and symbols.

"Violation of trademark and proprietary insignia dents the monetary interests of the official partners and business houses who put in huge sums of money to obtain sponsorship rights of such events," Chairman of the Association of Private Detectives and Investigators Kunwar Vikram Singh said.

"The brand protection cell of the organising committee of Commonwealth Games has spoken to us about the issue. We assured them that our professional snoopers can check the duplication and faking of official trademark and logos efficiently," he said.

The detectives, after deploying techniques of detection, identification, curtailment and prevention take help of the police to conduct searches at unauthorised premises resulting into arrests and seizures.

Singh, who also heads the Central Association of Private Security Industry, said the trademark violation is an area of concern for the organisers of such huge events.

"A delegation of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 had even come down here and inquired about the IPR violations and their remedial measures," Singh said.

The Organising Committee (OC) of the CWG, in a public notice issued earlier had said, "it has recently come to our notice that some organisations/persons who are not authorised are using these marks (official CWG logos) in respect of their products and services. These unscrupulous organisations and persons are thus cashing in on the goodwill and reputation of OC of CWG Delhi 2010 besides diluting the brand equity attached to these marks.

Any person indulging in unlawful use of the mentioned marks and any unscrupulous organisation/person who fails to desist from using the trademarks... and continues to conduct business... will be dealt with...," it added.

According to experts, money spinning events like the CWG are prone to such intellectual data theft as the activities are spread over countries and fetch revenues worth crores.

Fake bags, stationery, replicas and even merchandise are flooded in the markets before the start and during the games, they said.