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16 February 2016Trademarks

€3.5 billion lost to counterfeits every year, OHIM says

The sale of counterfeit jewellery and luggage have seen businesses in the EU lose €3.5 billion ($3.9 billion) every year, a report from the Office for Harmonization for the Internal Market (OHIM) has claimed.

Focusing on Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the UK, the report said jewellery, handbags and luggage were the sectors which were the hardest hit by the sale of counterfeits.

In the report, published on February 10 and which analysed figures from 2007 to 2012, OHIM said that 13.5% of sales related to watches and jewellery and 12.7% related to handbags and luggage are lost due to counterfeiting.

The handbags sector in Italy reported a loss of €520 million annually during the timeframe, France lost €336 million and the UK lost €149 million.

António Campinos, president of OHIM, said: “The jewellery and watches sector and the handbags and luggage sector in the EU are overwhelmingly made up of micro-enterprises, which employ fewer than ten people, and such businesses as these are particularly vulnerable to the economic effects of counterfeiting.”

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