Growing counterfeit and pirated products demand stricter IPR law enforcement, protection of intellectual property is important for promoting innovation and creativity says EU.

In our increasingly knowledge-based economies, the protection of intellectual property is important for promoting innovation and creativity, developing employment, and improving competitiveness, says EU. The European Commission works to harmonise laws relating to industrial property rights in EU countries to avoid barriers to trade and to create efficient EU-wide systems for the protection of such rights. It fights against piracy and counterfeiting and aims to help businesses, especially small businesses, access and use intellectual property rights more effectively.

Today, counterfeiters are capable of reproducing food and beverages brands, medicines, electronics and electrical supplies, auto parts and everyday household products. Meanwhile copyright pirates have created multi-million dollar networks capable of producing, transporting and selling their unauthorized music, videos and software.

According to a report by World Health Organization (WHO), 10 per cent of pharmaceutical drugs in the world are counterfeited, rising to 60 per cent in developing countries. The FMCG sector looses 15 per cent of revenue due to IP crime.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)  stated in their annual report  that the total number of products seized containing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) infringements increased nearly 25 percent in fiscal year 2015. The collaboration netted 28,865 seizures of shipments, an increase from 23,140 in fiscal year 2014. Had these products been genuine, the estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of the seized goods would have been over $1.35 billion. This is a ten percent increase in the value of seized goods from the previous fiscal year, which were estimated at $1.23 billion MSRP.

The People’s Republic of China remained the primary source economy for counterfeit and pirated goods seized, accounting for a total estimated MSRP value of $697 million or 52 percent of the estimated MSRP value of all IPR seizures.

Counterfeit and pirated products put the health and safety of consumers worldwide at risk while robbing governments, businesses and communities of tax revenues, profits and legitimate jobs. The negative impacts of counterfeiting and piracy are projected to drain US$4.2 trillion from the global economy and put 5.4 million legitimate jobs at risk by 2022, says ICC.

According to a U.S. Senate committee report in 2012 and reported by ABC News, “counterfeit electronic parts from China are ‘flooding’ into critical U.S. military systems, including special operations helicopters and surveillance planes, and are putting the nation’s troops at risk.” The report notes that Chinese companies take discarded electronic parts from other nations, remove any identifying marks, wash and refurbish them, and then resell them as brand-new – “a practice that poses a significant risk to the performance of U.S. military systems.