Two key members of the National Markets Group for IP Protection – Gavin Terry and Patrician Lennon – have won recognition at Chartered Trading Standards Institute’s (CTSI) annual Hero Awards ceremony for their work with market operators.
The pair – Gavin is CTSI Lead Officer for Intellectual Property and Vice Chair of the NMG and Patricia has been campaign manager for the National Markets Group’s Real Deal Charter since 2008 – were awarded the CTSI Hero Award for Intellectual Property (IP).
The awards, hosted by CTSI at the House of Lords on the evening of Wednesday 23 November, recognised significant contributions to consumer protection across the UK.
Gavin and Patricia have been working together since 2016 to deliver Intellectual Property-related training to market managers and operators as part of the National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA) professional qualification, raising awareness of counterfeiting and piracy and highlighting the risks to operators from regulatory non-compliance.
Since 2018, they have worked with National Trading Standards eCrime Team (NTSeCT) to translate the Real Deal Charter to be compatible with online platforms, such as Facebook. Their Real Deal online toolkit is used by over 100 Trading Standards authorities to police the internet whilst advising consumers and online administrators how to stay IP legal.
Recently the pair have coordinated on-line training sessions for Trading Standards authorities using the Real Deal Online toolkit, to increase the knowledge and ability of officers to protect consumers and legitimate business.
Gavin said: “Patricia and I greatly appreciate that the ground-breaking work of The National Markets Group and the Real Deal Campaigns has been recognised in this way. Both the NMG and the Real Deal have been with us for over 10 years and their success is firmly based upon partnership working and industry funding – without this valuable support none of the success of the NMG and the Real Deal would be possible.”
CTSI Chief Executive John Herriman said: “IP crime is not victimless and impacts on legitimate business and local investment. Gavin and Patricia are working together to tackle this problem head-on and deliver real and positive impacts, to protect legitimate businesses and make markets safer for consumers. It is precisely this kind of effective collaborative working that brings results, that leads to better protection for consumers.
“Gavin and Patricia’s knowledge and delivery of training has proven fundamental in creating a sea change amongst market operators to ensure that IP infringing goods are not sold at their markets.
“The CTSI Hero Awards are a fantastic opportunity to celebrate remarkable individuals or groups of people who make outstanding contributions towards safeguarding vulnerable consumers in our communities. Every year, we are inspired by the stories of nominees throughout the country whose bravery, altruism and hard work often goes unnoticed. These awards honour those remarkable people who have gone the extra mile for consumers.”