When Englishman John Donne famously wrote that no person is an island, it’s likely he wasn’t thinking about an actual land mass. It’s also likely he wasn’t thinking specifically about his neighbors in Ireland. And though it's been said that the only things on the Emerald Isle you’ll run into as frequently as poets may be barstools (or perhaps some combination of the two), the fake trade has brought yet another poet’s words to bear on Hibernia. As described in a recent piece that ran in the Irish Independent, the country’s counterfeiting problem is expanding.

Now, where sham goods are concerned, it would seem no island is…well…an island, either.

Celine Naughton’s fine survey ably shifts apertures between the global and local effects of the epidemic and focuses firmly on how the purchase of phony goods via the internet has been so detrimental to business that the Irish Fashion and Footwear Federation, the trade group representing the industry’s retailers, will shut down because many of the organization’s members can’t afford to remain with them. It’s a compelling portrait of how difficult competition has become for legitimate businesses.
 
Naughton is similarly concerned about the second party retailers and e-tailers who are being undercut by counterfeiters to the point that wholesale prices can’t compete. When legitimate smaller players are forced out of the space, it is not only the selection of goods available to the public that shrinks, but, as is always the case with sham products, the quality is atrocious.
 
The manufacture and sale of counterfeit goods injures nearly every party along the production and distribution chain. We say ‘nearly’ because, like any illegal activity, there are always a few criminal masterminds who benefit immensely. But together, we can curb their illicit profits. Share your knowledge of the counterfeiting industry with friends and family and encourage them to pass it along to others. Each time our collective awareness stops the purchase of a counterfeit item, we get closer to stalling the demand for these sham goods entirely. Stop the demand and the supply will follow. Instantly.
 
Just because the fake trade hides in the shadows doesn't mean we can't talk about it in vivid terms.  So keep having these conversations. Anything that helps fight this epidemic is poetry to our ears.

Image from NASA's Earth Observatory 

Thailand’s Deputy Minister of Commerce has pledged that in the coming 2-8 months the country will show significant gains in its crackdown and prosecution of intellectual property crimes. As evidence of Thailand’s increasingly harsh climate for counterfeiters, the Deputy Minister announced that over 1.7 million fake articles had been confiscated in the first 5 months of the current year.

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Ambassador Ron Kirk, the United States Trade Representative, announced the plan to move forward with the negotiation of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), after it was reviewed by the Obama administration, as part of an ongoing overall evaluation of the current and pending trade agreements.
 
Ambassador Kirk emphasized that the ACTA is an important part of the U.S. trade agenda. Kirk believes that the international community’s continued commitment to its development marks a significant blow to those that participating in global counterfeiting and piracy. In a press release, Kirk stated that “the ACTA negotiations provide an opportunity to toughen international standards for the enforcement of intellectual property rights, making it harder for counterfeit and pirated products to enter our country and making the world safer for the innovation and creativity that are so critical to the U.S. economy.”
 
In the recent past, the negotiations surrounding the agreement have received some criticism for their secrecy, an issue Ambassador Kirk noted would be addressed with a dedicated page on the USTR website as well as an “open door policy” and town hall meetings to engage and inform the public about the proceedings.
 
According to the press release, the next meeting of the ACTA negotiations is scheduled for July in Morocco. The hope is that an agreement will be reached by 2010.

Cutting edge haircare brand ghd has found that the high demand for its thermodynamic tress products and ceramic stylers has lead to imposters in the market. The North American office of ghd warns consumers that a number of fake irons bearing the ghd brand name have been circulating the market. Consumers began calling ghd's customer service line early last year complaining that their irons, purchased on eBay, were malfunctioning. Not long after, Quebec City officials discovered thousands of counterfeit items at a local vendor, many of which were hair irons falsely labeled as ghd stylers.

The company urges consumers to use caution when buying ghd products, making sure only to patronize authorized vendors. Unauthorized locations—both on-line and in-store—may sell counterfeit ghd product at a discounted rate; these irons are not only illegal, but could potentially be harmful as they have not gone through ghd's strict safety tests. Additionally, ghd does not offer any warranties on irons that have been purchased through unauthorized retailers and does not replace counterfeit or diverted irons.

Ghd is working with its attorneys to shut down counterfeit operations—and keep your tresses safe from damage. The company has also assembled an extensive checklist so customers are able to identify whether their iron is counterfeit or not. Also, ghd is implementing a Track and Trace system that will allow them to catch diverters—also known as vendors that funnel faulty products to unauthorized haircare retailers.

Consumers who believe that they may have purchased a counterfeit iron can call ghd's customer service line at 877-ghd-angel (877-443-2643). To purchase official ghd product, visit their official website, or go behind the brand and get hair tips and tricks on Sephora.com. 

The New York City police force started 2009 off with a big message to Canal Street vendors who peddle counterfeit “designer” goods—not in this town.  Beginning in early December, city inspectors and police officers made a series of raids, the largest of which was on 424 Broadway, a mini-mall housing thousands of counterfeit handbags and other merchandise valuing over $1 million dollars. 

Officers not only uncovered sacks of knockoff goods, but terrible working conditions that endanger the lives of those who work in the building making and selling counterfeit goods. 

“It’s a firetrap,” said Edward Mungin, an inspector with the Department of Buildings assigned to the enforcement unit. “Space heaters, hanging lights, everything about this location is illegal.” 

The raid was just the latest in a concerted effort to close down counterfeit operations in what has become known as the “counterfeit triangle,” in New York City—the blocks between Walker, Canal, and Center Streets. Last year, the city made 2,729 arrests for trademark counterfeiting in a bid to rid New York of poorly made—and illegal—goods. 

New York isn’t the only city taking note of the sharp rise in counterfeiting in the last decade—Los Angeles similarly raided multiple downtown LA locations throughout the holiday season in what they dubbed Operation Clean Sweep. The program yielded 28 arrests, 200,000 counterfeit apparel items worth $2.7 million dollars. Los Angeles businesses lose $5.2 billion annually to the counterfeit market, according to the Los Angeles Anti-Piracy Task Force. 

While counterfeiting has grown recently—encompassing everything from faulty car parts to fake chocolate—local governments have stepped up with special task forces created specifically to fight fakes. 

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Anyone who has tried a milk chocolate Ferrero Rocher will likely want to try another. Around holiday time, the confections are popular additions to any party. But think twice before you see a box of these golden-wrapped goodies for a curiously low price at a discount store.  

Experts say counterfeiting of items such as chocolate is on the rise, and there is no greater proof than the seizure of 33,000 boxes of counterfeit Ferrero Rocher’s by French customs officers in late December 2008. The bust was the biggest seizure of counterfeit ordinary food products France has seen, said Jerômé Fournel, head of French customs. 

Luxury chocolatiers have good reason to be angry with counterfeiters banking on their good name—last year, shipments of fake chocolates coming from China were found to contain worms and moths. As always, buy wisely and from reputable retailers to avoid the unappetizing consequences of counterfeits. 

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Kodak's Traceless technology addresses a problem that globalization is only going to make worse.  Not only does counterfeiting cost global business approximately $700 billion annually, but there are also liability issues and the less-measurable costs of additional customer service and brand erosion.  In the world of fighting fakes, Kodak is an accidental innovator.  Originally, the company was trying to figure out how to secure documents such as passports and visas that use Kodak ink products.  Then they realized that the technique could be used on virtually any product in any industry because, "Everything has some printing on it," says Steven J. Powell, GM and director of Kodak's security solutions.  And Kodak itself has also fallen victim: its digital camera batteries have been knocked off.

Kodak's willingness to talk openly about the larger issue and its solutions has also differentiated it from its competitors.  "Companies fear that if they talk about the problem, they'll inadvertantly tip off counterfeiters," says Mark Roberti, editor of RFID Journal, which covers the industry.  But Kodak believes that talk is exactly what's needed.

Native American artisans in Gallup, New Mexico explained to a local paper, The Independent, that vendors peddling knockoffs of their carefully constructed folk art at half the price are hurting both their business and the art itself. Earl’s, an establishment in the town that sells authentic Navajo pottery and more, has begun a serious crackdown on any vendors attempting to pass off fakes as the real thing.

“Most of the vendors here have been here for 30 to 40 years,” said storeowner Ralph Richards. “They’ve got families. They’ve got kids in school and they’re just trying to make a living.”

“That’s all we ask is tell the consumers the truth,” Richards said of the counterfeiters selling knockoff folk art.

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Centuries old wine has a new high tech spin—it can be checked for authenticity using a particle accelerator, developed by French scientists to discern age.

As concern over the authenticity of wine grows, this authentification system reassures wineries, retailers, auction houses, and consumers that they are purchasing the real thing. Often times, wine can be counterfeit by placing a fake label on a newer, cheaper bottle of wine to make it seem like a better vintage. This scientific development combats this manner of counterfeiting by ionically testing both the glass bottle, its label and its cork.

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Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Julie Myers, met with members of the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition in New York City last week. Ms. Myers and Robert Barchiesi, president of the IACC, held a press conference to discuss how to strengthen government and industry ties to better combat counterfeit goods.

“Are we seeing places where more cooperation is needed?” Myers rhetorically asked Women’s Wear Daily. “Yes.”

Federal enforcement agencies and intellectual property owners have fortified their efforts to cut down on the counterfeit goods market, which costs the American retail industry over $30 Billion yearly.

Concerning its role in increasing consumer awareness about the consequences of purchasing counterfeits, Barchiesi said “In many cases, these are produced by forced labor or in sweatshops. We can get to the consumers and say, ‘Listen, the $5 you just spent, you don’t want to think about where it went.”

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