Newsletter : The IP Battle to Safeguard the YAMALUBE Brand of Genuine Yamaha Oil --Undoing the Damage: Working with the Indonesian Police to Uncover Some 30 Cases in Five Years--

Just as blood circulates throughout the human body, engine oil circulates within a motorcycle engine performing various tasks, including lubrication, sealing, cooling, cleaning, and rust prevention-all essential to maintaining the engine's health and ensuring it performs at its best. This is why Yamaha Motor considers oil to be a "Liquid Engine Component" and conducts development of its engines and YAMALUBE genuine oils in parallel. If a customer's valued motorcycle is given subpar quality oil, this can not only affect the working order of the vehicle but also the safety of the customer, making this a serious issue.

Fake YAMALUBE products lined up on store shelves. In some cases, these imitations are procured and sold to customers with the buyers themselves not knowing they are actually counterfeits.

　In recent years, Indonesia has been facing a series of incidents involving the discovery of counterfeit YAMALUBE products. To protect our customers, dealers, and the global reputation YAMALUBE has earned, Yamaha Motor is making every effort to eradicate these fake products, and working closely with local authorities has led to uncovering some 30 cases over the past five years.

　A representative from the Customer Experience (CX) Business Unit, which handles aftersales services, stated, "There are around 8 million Yamaha vehicles in use in Indonesia and the majority of our customers trust in and are using the YAMALUBE brand, so we believe we have a responsibility to protect them."

In Indonesia, we introduced a method for purchasers themselves to verify if the product is genuine by using a QR code hidden under the label (QR codes are a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED). Yamaha Motor is working in each market country to eliminate imitations, such as using holograms for verification in China.

Here is an example of one of the hardest-hit areas in Indonesia. "First, our investigators pretend to be ordinary customers and visit the end retailers," explains a member from Yamaha Motor's IP Strategy Division. "After gathering various kinds of evidence and analyzing the composition of the suspect oil, if the product is found to be counterfeit, we immediately file a damage report with the police." Conversely, the police also actively provide Yamaha Motor with information and this mutual cooperation serves to accelerate the effort to expose counterfeiters.

　The first thing demand suspects do is cease their sales of imitations as well as dispose of any on the market. We then present a settlement proposal, requiring they provide information about their supply routes as well as put out a public apology in a national newspaper. If they do not agree to these conditions, the case moves to trial-and suspects have been convicted before. "We don't want to drive small dealers away," explains the IP Strategy Division rep. "Our mission is to trace the supply routes through the sales network to find the source of these fakes and to eliminate the damage counterfeiters cause in accordance with the law."

Yamaha Motor's IP department states it is taking a firm stand to eradicate fakes.

　Some dealers and customers purchase substandard counterfeits without knowing it. As a means of consumer self-protection, we began hiding a QR code under the bottle label that allows purchasers to verify the authenticity of the product themselves. With a resolute attitude and a well-coordinated network, we are reducing the damage caused by counterfeit products from various angles and protecting the motorcycling lifestyles of our customers.

Total demand for YAMALUBE is approximately 100 million liters worldwide and about 40 million liters of that is consumed in the massive motorcycle market of Indonesia.

In addition to ensuring the safety of customers and their motorcycles, the meticulous campaign against counterfeit products in Indonesia is extremely important in terms of its effect on contributions to our business, i.e., profitability. Taking our work in Indonesia as a case study, we are ramping up similar anti-counterfeit efforts in other countries.

MATSUO, Kaoru