IP Crime Report 2014-2015

According to the "IP Crime Report 2014/2015" published by the national IP Crime Group, the Border Force detained over 1.6 million infringing items over the reporting year, with an "if genuine" retail value in excess of £56 million.

The majority of detentions continue to involve infringing goods imported from China and Hong Kong, with the most prevalent goods detected including handbags, footwear and electrical items.

The report noted that a key emerging trend is the threat from social media. E-commerce is significantly increasing the availability of counterfeit merchandise as sellers enjoy greater and easier access to new customers through closed social media groups. This threat is being responded to by the Anti-Counterfeiting Group and their partners with initiatives such as:

• Operation Jasper, which has brought together officers from 63 industry bodies and agencies and has taken down 4,300 Facebook listings, 20 Facebook profiles, issued over 200 warning letters and delivered 24 cease and desist letters;

• The ACG's Facebook initiative "Operation Watch", which has identified the availability of over 30,000 individual images of counterfeit goods across the social media site.

Please click here to access the full report.

For more information about the report or any other anti-counterfeiting or anti-piracy related issue, please contact Ben Mark (ben.mark@rpclegal.com) or David Cran (david.cran@rpc.cp.uk).