Computers and accessories were the seventh most counterfeited products last year, three percent of all seized goods in the USA.
FreeP reported on the growing costs of counterfeiting to the US and global economies, with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) noting that counterfeited products cost the global economy around $250 billion (€181 billion) a year.
The US Customs and Border Protection Agency (USCBP) reported that the value of counterfeit goods seized has actually increased by 38.1 percent from 2012 to $1.7 billion (€1.2 billion), with only a “fraction” of all counterfeit products successfully seized. The computers and accessories product category was said to have seen a cumulative seizure value of $47.7 million (€34.6 million), with over 1,000 shipments seized last year, a 37.5 percent higher amount than in 2012.
The top nine product groups that suffer from counterfeiting in the United States meanwhile saw computers and accessories (which includes both printers and cartridges) in seventh place, with a three percent share of all counterfeit products seized in the USA in 2013. In ninth place came optical media with two percent of products seized; labels and tags came eighth with two percent; footwear sixth with three percent; and pharmaceuticals and personal care product fifth with five percent.
The top four starts with clothes and accessories with seven percent; third was consumer electronics and parts with eight percent; second was watches and jewellery with 29 percent; and first was handbags and wallets with 40 percent. The CBP stated that China’s role in manufacturing, added to its “intellectual property rights framework”, may contribute “to the country’s high level of counterfeiting, with $1.2 billion (€870 million) of the $1.7 billion seized in the USA originating in China.
However, it added that “the process and methods of detecting these counterfeiting operations is constantly evolving”, with an increased number of seizures last year “explained in part by new collaborative efforts between CBP and various partners” such as China Customs, with the CBP noting that the success has “resulted in a measurable increase in the number and value of seizures and the ability to target and intercept shipments of knock-off products”.