Since 2018, the European Commission has published a biennial report on the state of counterfeiting in the world (on the 2018 report: iptwins.com, 2018-12-16; on the 2020 report: iptwins.com, 2021-01-18 ). These reports are essentially based on the contributions provided by intellectual property rights owners and intermediaries managing the concerned platforms (marketplaces and social media).
The 2022 report has just been published. As at each edition, the European Commission recalls the importance and challenges of counterfeiting (based in particular on the most recent studies by the OECD and EUIPO) and the means of dealing with it, emphasizing the good practices referenced, on the one hand, in the MoU of 2011 (Memorandum of Understanding on the sale of counterfeit goods on the internet) and, on the other hand, in the recommendations of the Commission (Recommendation (EU) 2018/334 of 1 March 2018 on measures to effectively combat illegal content online). This year, the Commission also refers to Digital Service Act (europa.eu), which provides rules, inter alia, on the reporting of illegal content or the traceability of goods.
In its 2022 report, the Commission highlights the positive developments of certain intermediaries:
- Mercado Libre, on the one hand, has created a brand protection portal that offers a signaling tool on the 18 marketplaces and, on the other hand, has taken part in the creation of the Anti-Counterfeiting Alliance (p 14).
- Snapdeal has integrated procedures allowing rights holders to notify content for removal or to verify the identity of the seller (p. 14).
- Bukalapak has partnered with brand owners, associations, and governments (pp. 14 and 15).
Intellectual property rights holders have acknowledged improvements from Shopee and DHGate. However, numerous and significant difficulties remain:
- lack of proactive measures;
- cumbersome signaling system;
- slowness in suppressing counterfeits;
- lack of harmonization from one platform to another;
- limited cooperation with rights holders;
- ineffective vendor control policy;
- ineffectiveness of measures intended to limit recidivism.
That said, Shopee and DHGate adopted new measures to help combat counterfeiting (pp. 40-41).
The Tiu.ru, Deal.by, Satu.kz and Tokopedia marketplaces pose problems:
- cumbersome withdrawal procedures;
- too long complaint processing time;
- lack of proactive measures and policies; against repeat offenders;
- lack of cooperation with rights holders.
Owners of intellectual property rights recognize the effort of Tokopedia consisting in the creation of the program called “Brand Alliances” aiming at providing better collaboration and proactive measures. However, this program is limited to brands with a store on the platform, which is grievous (p. 42).
Intellectual property rights holders continue to designate platforms from Alibaba (Aliexpress.com, Tmall.com, Taobao.com, and 1688.com), Amazon (Amazon.com), and Meta (Facebook) as hosting many counterfeits, despite the platforms’ efforts to comply with good practices as recommended by the Commission (p. 39) and their intense involvement with the competent authorities concerned (including Europol and the EUIPO). The EUIPO is currently working with specific platforms to facilitate the fight against online counterfeiting (p. 40).
Finally, the Commission’s report includes a chapter committed to the issue of counterfeit medicines (pp. 42-44). Based on data from other institutions (in particular those of Europol and Interpol), the authors indicate that counterfeit drug sales continue to increase. They point out that the majority of illicit pharmacies primarily use .COM top-level domains to deceive Internet users. However, pharmaceutical brand owners and authorities are aware of the need to broaden the spectrum of their monitoring strategies to all top-level domains.
Finally, this 2022 report only briefly mentions the risks associated with the emergence of the metaverse (p. 11).
Source: Commission publishes latest Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List, 1st December 2022: policy.trade.ec.europa.eu.
