The latest AI technology combined with human expertise has completely transformed the fight against creative theft.
Written by: Heart of the Metaverse
Research shows that 71.6% of consumers unknowingly purchased counterfeit goods while seeking genuine products, making it difficult for even the most vigilant consumers to distinguish between real and fake.
Worse, one-third of counterfeit products are purchased on platforms different from the original promotional platform. Counterfeiters are operating across multiple platforms and channels, making it more difficult for brands to track and enforce their intellectual property.
It is based on this issue that MarqVision was born, committed to safeguarding and building a future driven by original thinking, creativity, and innovation.
01. 1 Minute Project Overview
1. Project Name: MarqVision
2. Established: 2020
3. Product Introduction:
MarqVision's core product is a comprehensive brand protection and intellectual property management platform that uses AI technology and big data analytics to help businesses combat counterfeit products, identify infringements, and provide legal support globally.
4. Founding Team:
Mark Lee: Founder and CEO, who established the company while pursuing his JD at Harvard Law School.
5. Funding Status:
On September 28, 2021, completed a $5 million seed round led by SoftBank and Y Combinator;
On August 2, 2022, completed a $20 million Series A funding round led by Atinum Partners and DST Global;
On October 2, 2024, completed a $16 million Series A funding round led by Altos Ventures.
02. Marq AI Assists Brand Protection
With the rapid development of e-commerce platforms, the phenomenon of counterfeit goods and brand infringement has surged, leading many brands to suffer reputation and economic losses. Counterfeit goods and digital piracy have become not just an inconvenience but a global issue worth $2 trillion.
Not only physical goods, but 3% of counterfeit purchases are now made through AI chatbots, with counterfeiters hiding behind private messages, making it nearly impossible to catch them without advanced technology. Traditional brand protection measures struggle to cope with this trend, while advancements in AI technology provide new ideas for brand management.
Given the accelerating shift in business models faced by today's enterprises, it's time to use new weapons.
MarqVision is launching its new generative AI product Marq AI with the latest $16 million funding:
Dialogue Assistant: Social commerce is thriving, but unfortunately, counterfeit transactions hidden in private messages are also flourishing. The Marq AI dialogue assistant uses artificial intelligence to scan and analyze messages across platforms and languages from the world's largest brands, identifying counterfeit sales with an accuracy rate exceeding 99%. It collects the evidence needed for them to act quickly while staying ahead of the evolving strategies used by counterfeiters to hide their activities.
Smart Dashboard: Data is only useful when it is actionable. The redesigned dashboard not only displays pie charts and numbers but also provides users with detailed insights into why each item was flagged as counterfeit. No more inflated detection numbers, only factual analysis of the items being tested.
Automated Copyright Workflow: Since the outbreak of the pandemic, digital piracy has increased by 36%, and businesses need faster and more scalable ways to address copyright infringements. Marq AI automates the entire process, from data collection to sending enforcement notices. Work that previously took 20 hours a week can now be completed with just a few clicks.
Smart Enforcement: What sets Marq AI apart is its ability to continually learn and improve. Over time, Marq AI becomes smarter, capable of automatically executing enforcement actions, such as sending takedown requests and soft notices, saving expert teams significant time that customers would spend on enforcement actions.
03. MarqVision × Xiaomi Indonesia
Since its establishment in 2010, Xiaomi has rapidly grown into a leading global smartphone manufacturer and one of China's top enterprises. In Indonesia, Xiaomi has significant influence but also faces challenges from counterfeit products and intellectual property infringements, which threaten brand value and hinder market expansion.
To maintain growth and customer trust, Xiaomi Indonesia recognizes the importance of protecting brand reputation and intellectual property. As the central management head of Xiaomi Indonesia, Farid Harahap is responsible for ensuring smooth company operations, including legal compliance and intellectual property protection. At the same time, Xiaomi Indonesia also faces issues with parallel imports, where these gray market activities infringe on its intellectual property.
Given the wide and complex product portfolio, Xiaomi Indonesia chose to partner with MarqVision to optimize its brand protection processes using the latter's technology. Xiaomi selected 500 product assets for protection, and MarqVision's AI software regularly scans online markets to find and report counterfeit products and infringing accounts, tracking and identifying repeat offenders through seller intelligence features.
Harahap emphasized that MarqVision's quick response and customized services are crucial for Xiaomi Indonesia, helping the company balance business expansion, counterfeit risk investigations, and social responsibility commitments. This collaboration allows Xiaomi Indonesia to mitigate the impact of counterfeit products on revenue and brand reputation, enhancing consumer awareness of genuine products, especially in the Indonesian market, where the counterfeit issue is severe, contributing to national economic growth and employment.
With the help of MarqVision, Xiaomi Indonesia successfully increased the success rate of removing infringing products to 99%, automatically detecting 5,000 products each month, expanding the protection range without extra effort. This innovative brand protection strategy ensures Xiaomi's long-term business growth in the Indonesian market.
04. The Fight Against Piracy is a Long Road
TikTok, a massive platform attracting 1 billion users worldwide each month, faces a severe challenge of rampant pirated content. From classic films to the latest blockbusters, unauthorized content snippets frequently appear in users' feeds, raising concerns about copyright protection. This is especially true for young people, whose consumption of pirated media has gradually normalized, further complicating efforts to combat piracy.
TikTok's transparency report shows a continuous increase in intellectual property infringement cases in recent years. Although TikTok is willing to cooperate with businesses on brand protection efforts, the growing user base and limitations of content review mean brands still need to be self-reliant to ensure their intellectual property is not infringed.
The impact of piracy on the media industry is profound. It not only deprives copyright holders of revenue from using copyrighted media but can also lead to audience dissatisfaction with the media experience.
Although some brands attempt to use TikTok as a promotional platform, encouraging users to switch to paid platforms for a better viewing experience, this strategy has not yet proven successful. Meanwhile, media payments on TikTok are generally low, making it difficult for media companies to obtain substantial returns.
In the face of piracy issues on TikTok, brands need to take proactive measures to protect their intellectual property. On one hand, they can rely on TikTok's platform to cooperate with takedown requests for infringing content; on the other hand, brands also need to take the initiative by utilizing technologies like artificial intelligence to monitor and combat piracy.
In summary, whether on the TikTok platform or other media and brands, the issue of piracy has always been a complex and severe challenge. However, with the rise of AI copyright protection platforms like MarqVision, this problem is expected to be effectively alleviated. Only through the joint efforts of platforms, brands, and consumers can a healthy and sustainable social media and consumption environment be built.
Reference Link:
1. https://www.marqvision.com/
2. https://www.kedglobal.com/artificial-intelligence/newsView/ked202410040014