The European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has published its report entitled “EU enforcement of intellectual property rights: results at the EU border and in the EU internal market 2021” (EUIPO, EU enforcement of intellectual property rights: results at the EU border and in the EU internal market 2021, December 2022: euipo.europa.eu). This report is based, on the one hand, on the cooperation of the Member States within the framework of the information system called COPIS (EU-wide anti-counterfeit and anti-piracy information system) and, on the other hand, on the data communicated by law enforcement authorities via the IP Enforcement Portal (IPEP).
The data collected reveals that the annual number of detentions of goods suspected of infringing an intellectual property right has increased slightly (from 70,000 in 2020 to 75,000 in 2021), as has that of the procedures initiated (from 102,000 in 2020 to 124,000 in 2021). The authors of the report observe a displacement of products qualified as “expensive” towards categories of products known as “less expensive”. This development demonstrates, if need be, the tendency to produce and distribute counterfeit goods of all ranges, so as to broaden the spectrum of consumers. Counterfeit items most often detained at customs included mobile phone accessories, toys and personal care items.
Since e-commerce makes extensive use of express mail, so does counterfeiting. Indeed, counterfeiters not only imitate goods, they also reproduce logistics strategies. The authors of the report note that the cases of detention of goods transported by express courier are increasing.
