Search and choose 1 actual example of company involved/charged with intellectual property issues.

Present the logo/name of the company charged with the said issue/s and original company (one who
owns/has the rights/privileges). Then, discuss what went wrong and what should have been avoided.
More importantly, give your insights on the importance of upholding the intellectual property rights
when doing business.

In 1994, Adidas America Incorporation and Payless Shoe Source Incorporation got into an issue
regarding intellectual property. Since 1952, Adidas had used its three-stripe symbol as its company logo
and had recently licensed it as a trademark. With two and four different lines, Payless sold confusingly
identical running shoes on the other hand. The two parties hashed out a deal, but then again, Payless
was marketing the identical products in 2001. With this, Adidas requested a jury trial believing that the
shoes would dupe consumers and tarnish their reputation. Upon checking more than 200 pairs of
Payless sneakers, the jury lasted for seven years and in the end, Adidas was paid millions for it was
estimated in the Law Blog of the Wall Street Journal. I think that Payless should avoid making such
products that are identical to Adidas’. It is unethical to sell those, particularly that they already made a
deal regarding the issue of their respective logos. In doing business, upholding intellectual property
rights is important because, with this, you can set your company apart from rivals. You can also have
substantial sales sources as your business is licensed, form an integral part of your branding, and it can
also be used as loan protection. Thus, as a businessman, one should always bear in mind that copying
one’s work is not that worthy because as they usually say, it is better to fail in originality than to succeed
in imitation.