Risks of Overseas Crowdfunding
A story about a project suddenly being suspended on Kickstarter
The other day, a problem occurred with a certain project.
Regarding a product that was being publicized, we received a notice from a German company saying,
“You are infringing on our trademark. Stop immediately.”
Such notifications themselves are not rare.
However, this time, the platform approved the request, and the project was temporarily suspended.
And it ended up in a state where
“it cannot be published until both parties discuss and resolve the issue.”
A “truly unlucky case” where coincidences overlapped
As we proceeded with the discussions, we realized that this case was extremely unique.
The German side had officially acquired the trademark in the EU
The product names matched perfectly
Moreover, the product categories were also identical
In other words, the other party's claim had sufficient legitimacy.
On the other hand, the Japanese client also
had acquired the trademark in Japan several years ago
the brand name was derived from their own name
Given this situation,
neither party had any malicious intent, and it was a case where coincidences completely overlapped—that was the situation.
Result: The project resumed, but the cost was high
Ultimately, our company stepped in as an intermediary, and after repeated discussions,
this crowdfunding campaign was allowed to proceed
however, we agreed to the condition that the brand name would not be used for future overseas expansion
and reached an agreement.
We explained the situation to Kickstarter, and
the project was successfully resumed and completed.
However, in reality,
the Japanese side ended up giving up the brand and effectively had to swallow the loss.
In fact, this problem occurs frequently overseas.
What I felt again through this incident is that
this kind of trouble is not rare overseas.
In particular,
products where the idea or design has value
products where the brand name is important
tend to be easily targeted.
In fact,
there are companies that file claims to profit from settlement money.
This is the important part👇
👉 Regardless of the validity of the claim, once approved, it stops immediately
The real fear of project suspension
Once suspended on Kickstarter,
the advertising costs accumulated so far
production costs
schedule
everything comes to a halt.
And,
👉 it cannot be resumed without an agreement with the other company
This is truly fatal.
Especially,
advertising investments of tens to hundreds of millions of yen
large-scale projects
If this happens with
the damage is immeasurable.
So, how should we take countermeasures?
I will be honest.
It is almost impossible to prevent it completely.
This is because,
trademarks and designs are already registered in large numbers around the world
it is unrealistic to check everything in advance
is why.
One realistic conclusion
Based on this experience, this is what we think.
👉 Do not bet too big from the start
In other words,
start small
see the market reaction
expand if there are no problems
is the step.
For example,
Test with modest advertising costs at first
If there are no issues, make a full-scale investment (e.g., on the scale of 100 million yen)
is the flow.
Conversely,
👉 If you make a large-scale investment right away and it stalls, it's over
Regarding the future
Currently, as a Kickstarter partner, our company is
risk countermeasures for large-scale projects
avoidance strategies for trademark and design disputes
and is proceeding with discussions with the platform side regarding these.
From Japan as well,
“I want to do a project that exceeds 100 million yen”
consultations like this are increasing.
This is something I am very happy about.
However,
👉 it is truly dangerous to dive in without understanding the risks
Crowdfunding has dreams.
But at the same time, these kinds of “invisible risks” definitely exist.
Based on this reality,
I would like to build the right way to fight together with you.