Counterfeiting

Counterfeiting has grown to be a major problem in recent times. These activities damage reputable manufacturers and producers of branded goods and lead to major job losses. It is believed that as many as 100,000 jobs per year are lost in the UK and European Union as a result of counterfeiting. Furthermore consumers often end up with poor quality or at worst unsafe products.

All manner of items are now counterfeited including sportswear, computer games, watches, car parts and perfumes. UK Producers can protect their name, logo or design by registering it with the Trade Marks Registry in the UK’s Patent Office. These registered names, logos or designs are referred to as Trade Marks.

Once they have registerd a Trade Mark, a producer is then able to take court action against anyone using their Trade Mark without their authority.

It is well known that a considerable proportion of the receipts from counterfeiting has been used to fund criminal and terrorist activities.

Anyone who supplies counterfeit goods for a profit, such as in the course of a business, is likely to commit a criminal offence and be subject to heavy fines and/or imprisonment.

Trading Standards is responsible for enforcing much of the criminal legislation concerning counterfeiting. Over the years we have brought many successful prosecutions against those selling counterfeit goods in the County and seized hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of illegal goods.

If you have any information about illegal copying of products you should report the matter to your local Trading Standards service.

Further information on trade marks, patents and copyright may be found on the Patent Office website.