EUIPO: EUR 460 billion worth of counterfeit and pirated goods traded worldwide

A report released today by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates the total value of counterfeit and pirated goods traded worldwide to be EUR 460 billion. The share of counterfeit goods in world trade has increased from 2.5 % in the estimates released in 2016 to 3.3 %. Up to EUR 121 billion worth of EU imports are counterfeit and pirated goods, which corresponds to 6.8 % of total EU imports.

Today’s report, ‘Trends in Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods’, updates the original analysis, made by the EUIPO and the OECD, released in 2016, which estimated the total value of the global trade in counterfeit and pirated goods to be up to EUR 338 billion. The global increase is therefore considerable.

In the EU, 6.8 % of all imports from third countries are now estimated to be counterfeit and pirated goods, worth up to EUR 121 billion. This, compared to the estimate of 5 % of EU imports presented in the 2016 report, constitutes a sharp rise.

Companies and businesses most affected by counterfeiting and piracy continue to be primarily based in OECD countries such as the United States, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom.

However, a growing number of companies registered in other economies, including China, Brazil and Hong Kong are also being affected by the global trade in counterfeiting and piracy.

The Executive Director of the EUIPO, Christian Archambeau, said:
"Counterfeiting and piracy pose a major threat to innovation and economic growth, at both EU and global level. The rise in the share of counterfeit and pirated goods in world trade is deeply concerning, and clearly calls for coordinated action, at all levels, to be fully tackled."

The report underlines that counterfeit and pirated goods can come from almost any economy in the world either by being produced there directly or through a point of transit.

However, customs seizures detailed in the report indicate the main countries and regions of provenance from which counterfeit and pirated goods are exported. These include China, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Singapore, Thailand, India and Malaysia.

Go to the press release in the attached PDF file.

Press contacts
Ruth McDonald
Tel: +34 965137676
Ruth.MCDONALD@euipo.europa.eu

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) is a decentralised agency of the EU, headquartered in Alicante, Spain. It manages the registration of the European Union trade mark (EUTM) and the registered Community design (RCD), as well as carrying out cooperation activities with the national and regional intellectual property (IP) offices of the EU. The EUIPO carries out research and activities to combat IP rights infringement through the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights.

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