The counterfeiting trade continues to pervade products in all sectors. U.S. Customs and Border control officials’ latest seizure in Los Angeles was a $1 million shipment of counterfeit karaoke machines. Read more at the Washington Post
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Posts Tagged ‘counterfeit crime’
3200 attempts to import fake medicines to EU in 2008
Monday, May 16th, 2011The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has warned about the growing problem of counterfeit medicines. In a press release issued last week, the UNODC noted that counterfeit drugs have an estimated value of $1.6bn in Africa and Asia alone. According to the World Health Organisation, three in 10 pharmaceutical products in the combined African, Asian and Latin American markets are fake.
UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov has called for increased attention to be given: “Fraudulent medicines offer organized criminal groups a high-return commodity with relatively low risks, ultimately at the expense of the health of unsuspecting people. These counterfeit goods indiscriminately kill, depriving the poorest of lifesaving medicines and leading to countless deaths.”
14,000 counterfeiters arrested in China
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011Chinese police arrested 14,185 people involved in the production and sale of counterfeit goods over the last five months – further evidence of the huge scale of counterfeiting operations in China. According to philSTAR.com, over 7,000 production and sales outlets were destroyed during the period and many more are still under investigation.
Counterfeiting in China is a global problem. Many major brands continue to look for ways to tackle the phenomenon which threatens to harm brand reputation. Investigation management software systems, such as ABM’s Intellicase, can play a valuable part in helping to investigate incidents of counterfeiting.
37,000 litres of illicit fuel seized by Customs
Monday, March 21st, 2011HM Revenue and Customs have busted an industrial scale fuel laundering plant in Northern Ireland. Customs officials and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) seized six large fuel storage tanks, 37,000 litres of illicit fuel and 1,000 litres, as well as associated equipment and 21,000 of toxic waste. It is estimated that the laundering plant could have cost £20 million in lost tax revenue per year. By taking red diesel for agricultural use and chemically removing the government marker, the perpetrators can sell the laundered fuel at a lower price, avoiding the petrol tax.
Counterfeiting of designer sunglasses and handbags is a well understood problem, but the dangers of buying laundered fuel can be significant. HMRC have clearly done well to shut down this particular operation.
20,000 dodgy product listings every day
Monday, March 21st, 2011Illustrating the scale of the counterfeiting problem in China, the country’s biggest online retailer, Taobao, has revealed that it removes around 20,000 suspected counterfeit product listings every day from its e-commerce website. As reported by Penn Olson, Taobao use various initiatives to identify counterfeit products on their website and have recently joined forces with 89 global brands to help reduce the instances of rogue products. Although 20,000 sounds like a lot of listings to remove, the website published over 10 million new product listings every day, making it extremely difficult to overcome the counterfeit goods problem. http://www.penn-olson.com/2011/03/21/taobao-counterfeit-products/
Hard to swallow – 91,000 bottles of counterfeit vinegar seized in Italy
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011Italian officials have seized 35,000 litres or 91,000 bottles of counterfeit balsamic vinegar. The famous balsamic vinegar of Modena is protected by the European Union’s Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status which makes it a target for counterfeiting operations. The sting operation, led by the State Forester’s Brigade was conducted in several parts of Italy, as reported by AGI News.
High value food products appear to be an increasingly popular target for illegal counterfeiting. Only yesterday, Decanter.com reported that the famous wine producer, Chateau Margaux, has introduced an anti-fraud seal on all of its bottles in a bid to prevent cheap knock-offs.
Hard times for Viagra smugglers
Monday, February 28th, 2011The UK Border Agency has revealed that they seized over 8.5 million smuggled Viagra pills worth around £13 million during raids in 2010. The tablets were either fakes or illegally imported without license – either way, they are not subjected to the rigorous testing required of legitimate medicines sold in the UK and EU. Six million of the illicit pills were intercepted at Heathrow airport alone. UKBA have uploaded some photos which illustrate the scale of the operation at http://www.flickr.com/photos/49956354@N04/sets/72157626008296233/with/5476243522/
61 percent of pharmaceutical professionals believe 2011 will be the worst year yet for counterfeit medicines
Friday, January 7th, 2011A survey by Pharma IQ of 1000 pharmaceuticals anti-counterfeiting professionals has found that most expect counterfeiting activity to grow in 2011. Chinese counterfeiters and internet distribution are identified as major causes of the problem. Anti-counterfeiting professionals will be looking increasingly for new and improved ways to tackle counterfeiters and their dodgy products.
Google steps up anti-piracy fight…
Monday, December 6th, 2010Google has announced it is increasing attempts to make life difficult for internet software pirates…
High court rejects Tiffany’s appeal in eBay suit…
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010It seems that big brands have their hands full with differing court outcomes…?
A U.S. District Court decided in 2008 that eBay was not liable for any trademark infringement from the sale of counterfeit Tiffany products on its auction site. Tiffany appealed the decision but the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday refused to hear the appeal. Similar cases have also found in favour of eBay (such as the May 2009 L’Oreal v eBay case in France) stating that it is the brand’s responsibility to police counterfeit goods, however others have found in favour of the brands (e.g. Nov 2009, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton v eBay).
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