Law firm Allens Arthur Robinson has dismantled an international operation that was illegally selling t-shirts bearing World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) iconic panda trademark, pumping action into an area of practice that seems to have been neglected of late.

The firm was approached by the WWF for legal help after it received reports that a trader was selling the t-shirts at Sydney’s Paddy’s Market. A team led by Allens’ intellectual property (IP) partner Andrew Wiseman issued a letter of demand against the trader, who named his source in China. The information was then conveyed to Allens’ IP practice in Beijing, where practice manager Ted Marr and lawyer Jimmy Huang found the people who were running an international website that illegally sold merchandise with the WWF logo. 

“Each new or repeat player who pops up selling pirated goods needs to be shut down. The best but often more difficult task is to locate and take action at the source. In this case, we were able to work with our colleagues on the ground in Beijing to take action to stop this illegal activity, thereby saving a lot of time and money. It also secured a result of global, not just Australian, consequence,” said Wiseman.

Allens did pro bono work for WWF, and said that the value of goods seized is nominal compared to the importance of IP protection in branding and in revenue production.

Given China’s huge role as “the workshop of the world” and its geographical vastness, enforcing intellectual property rights is difficult. But increasing legislation and enforcement in the area seems to be paying dividends. A significant factor in China’s bid to host the Olympics was its undertaking to conform to international IP laws in protecting the usage and distribution of the Olympic symbol.