Decathlon and H&M promote clothing items using terms such as ‘ecodesign’ and ‘conscious’, without clearly indicating the sustainable benefit. When the ACM addresses the companies on this matter, they immediately promise improvement. The information on the websites was altered and a donation of 500,000 euros has been made to various causes aimed at improving sustainability.
Within the field of intellectual property, we should also think more about sustainability. For example, when there is a situation of infringement (e.g. parallel imports), we often demand immediate destruction of the infringing goods. Which is of course anything but sustainable. Possible alternatives include the dismantling of products, so that the materials can be recycled or donated to charity. It’s time for us take a different approach.
