As we have already mentioned multiple times counterfeit causes enormous damage to both the economy and consumers. Brands bear losses as they lose their customer’s trust and are bogged down in litigations. In this article we will consider the negative consequences which brands are experiencing and find out which categories of fake products are the most dangerous for the consumers.

Production and distribution of counterfeit is quite a profitable business, and not only small frauds realized that, but also the representatives of big criminal gangs. You never know who’s behind a small sales point of fake handbags in a spontaneous market or a nondescript shop of pseudo-branded watches. The number of such shops around the globe is huge and the profit from the sale of counterfeit goods is often used for weapon and drug dealing, prostitution, or terrorist attacks.

Counterfeit production is a state crime, the same as the distribution of goods under someone’s name or without the permission of official brand owners. Fake goods are usually manufactured from materials of lower quality for selling a cheap imitation of the analog of the goods manufactured by the brands, which are familiar to the consumers and which they trust.

Counterfeit flooded the world’s market and it’s getting harder and harder for a usual customer to figure out whether he was lucky to buy an original product or a product created by some forgers. The main difference between counterfeit and an original product is the absence of any documents from the owners of the intellectual property or official permission to sell goods.

Starting the last century and till nowadays the popularity of comics in the world is increasing. Who doesn’t like to “relax their brains”, disconnect from gray routine and immerse into fictional universes reliving the adventures of heroes? However, surprisingly, even in this sphere the brand and its good name play an important role. The largest and most popular representatives of the industry are Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Comics.

The industry of elite perfumes with a current turnover of 12 billion USD has also faced the problem of copying. The history of falsification of perfumery has its roots in the past. The first case of the forgery of a brand fragrance is dated as back as 1890.

Currently, the increasing role of intellectual property is becoming more and more noticeable, which has a sufficient impact on economic growth, the availability of well-paid jobs, the development of innovation, and competitiveness. Unfortunately, even with all the positive aspects of this phenomenon, the negative aspect – violation of intellectual property rights – also exists and poses an undeniable threat to the world economy.

The automotive industry was no exception to the counterfeit epidemic and has been fighting counterfeits for many years. The number of counterfeit parts is on the rise, regardless of the efforts of national governments and branch representatives. The main reason for the counterfeit increase is that counterfeit car parts is a very profitable business. According to the evaluation of the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) legal part of the car parts industry annually loses 2.2 billion due to the sale of counterfeit tires and 180 million Euro annually due to the sale of counterfeit car batteries. However, that is just a part of the problem, other car parts are being counterfeited in huge quantities too.

Another category that is often copied is toys. However, if the counterfeit shoes or clothes only lead to losses for the authentic manufacturers and unpleasant aftertaste for the buyers, the counterfeit toys may result in health problems for children. In 2018-2019 in Britain, over 4.2 million of counterfeit products were seized for 21 million pounds.

Beauty requires not only sacrifice but also constant work. Not only common people think so, but also manufacturers of cosmetic products. The race to be perfect is gaining momentum every other day and global cosmetic brands use tricks to make their products better, healthier, and more attractive. Unfortunately, with the growth of popularity of the beauty products industry on the market, there are more and more fakes of original products of famous manufacturers.

The sale and production of alcohol products are one of the most profitable spheres nowadays. As a rule, any social interaction does not happen without a bottle of beer or a glass of wine. Alcohol is essential for almost all special occasions. It can help us relax when talking to strangers. However, alcohol consumption requires compliance with certain safety standards, primarily for the sake of health. For example, the choice of what you are going to drink, if it’s high-quality, proven alcohol in moderation will bring only positive emotions, but counterfeit can bring a lot of health problems, starting from usual poisoning or even death.

A great consumption demand along with excise duties on cigarettes, e-devices, and liquids, as well as heating systems of tobacco– that’s what facilitates the appearance of a bigger number of counterfeit tobacco products. ОECD and EU evaluate the cost of fakes worldwide more than $ 2 billion. In Germany only every fifth cigarette is a forgery. The period of the pandemic, oddly enough, influenced the decrease in the spread of counterfeit tobacco products in countries. The borders are closed thus the amount of imported counterfeit has significantly decreased and mostly only licensed products or local brands remained.

The forgery of packages, marking codes, and product designs has never been easier in our modern technological world. Automation of manufacturing sites gives the opportunity to rapidly create any analogs causing damage to brand owners, consumers, and governments.

The pharmaceutical sphere is growing and developing extremely fast. New drugs, vitamins, or generics appear daily throughout the world produced by pharmaceutical companies. The more famous such companies and brands are, the more forgeries appear on the market. That’s obvious that the manufacturers take care of preserving the uniqueness of their products, thus there is a great number of various strategies for the brand’s promotion and preservation.

The desire of people to take care of themselves, stay healthy and at the same time look good makes the field of sportswear and footwear quite profitable and this popularity is not going to give up its positions. This means that the sports industry needs to pay much more attention to creating a specific set of protective actions for each design, trademark element or method of lacing sneakers than to protect brands of ordinary clothing.

The fashion industry is probably the most vulnerable niche in terms of copying. Fashionable silhouettes, similar designs and materials - how to stand out in this sea of ​​fabrics and accessories? Just manage to protect your ideas from plagiarism, create new trends and register decals. Fashion is always mobile and does not tolerate constancy, but at the same time, it needs constant protection.

Over the years, the two arch-corporations, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, have been in a race to stay ahead of the curve. Coca-Cola with its pursuit of the classics and the policy of keeping the original concept against Pepsi and their focus on modernity. So what do they do to stay on top?

Large and successful brands like Samsung and Apple try to do everything possible and impossible to protect their copyrights and the uniqueness of their products. Brand protection strategies can be similar or completely different. But that doesn't mean that some of them work better. They are simply different from competitors' strategies as well as their products. This is the meaning of uniqueness.

BrandProtect creates a new revolutionary sales system with unique capabilities and an unprecedented level of interaction between sellers, vendors, and goods. A new era of online sales will be opened and “old-school” online retailers, like Alibaba or Amazon, will be forced to play catch up or become obsolete in a few years.

Сryptographic protection is reaching a new level of distribution. Today, more and more attention is paid to the availability of certificates, not only in the physical sense but also in the digital one. Security certifications convince us that this site, resource, or platform can be trusted, and with the surge in online shopping, the relevance or even the need for digital security will only increase

Since childhood, we are told that it’s bad to steal. That’s a fundamental truth, but for some reason, not everyone understands that intellectual property rights violation is also theft and it’s strange that in the 21st century the court has to remind adult people about that. There are multiple precedents when a famous brand has to protect its dignity in court. Maybe, if the penalty system worked not only against people who manufacture and distribute the counterfeit but against people who purchase it, wishing to buy Philipp Plein bag from enameled cloth or Nike that will last for 2 weeks, would significantly increase. “Suppose there are two similar women, and appearance, and wealth and age, they differ only in one, one has a dress from “Versace”, and the other does not, guess which of these women often makes love?” *Gianni Versace*

We all know what a brand is, but have you noticed that recently there have been too much Gucci, Louis Vuitton, or Prada out there? Have the brands become available for everyone or have forgeries flooded our world? World brands nowadays are concerned about the number of counterfeits and are trying to take all possible measures to protect their brands.

A crisis rarely brings something new to our life. Most often it shows the problems and tendencies which started forming before. Thus, taking care of your health and ecology, as well as the preference of online shopping to making purchases offline became key factors of world retail changes in 2020 and will play their role in the nearest future.

The pandemic has brought significant changes to retail, just like to any other sphere. Customers are changing their purchasing habits during this period: a brand and a geographic position are no longer key factors while choosing shops, but a variety of the assortment, an opportunity for the fast and convenient process of purchase are at the top of the list. Needless to say that these changes influence the strategy. Accurate and timely analyzed the profile of a customer and predicting their actions based on previous purchases is a new path to victory.