According to the latest figures from the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), European companies are losing around £52 billion per year in lost sales due to intellectual property (IP) theft.
With the global reach of the internet, stealing fashion brands intellectual property has become easier causing businesses to miss out massively.
In the EUIPO survey, 7 per cent of European citizens said they had intentionally purchased counterfeit products in the last twelve months, but in reality, the number is expected to be much higher.
China has fast become a hotspot for intellectual property theft with many of the world’s biggest brand names having experienced IP theft from within the nation.
Earlier this month Danish toy company Lego was awarded £503,000 in damages from Chinese companies that had sold copycat building sets under the name “Lepin”.
Roar Rude Trangbæk, a spokesman for Lego said: “We have seen copycats for many decades, first starting in the late 1940s and it is a continuous issue we deal with.
“We don’t mind fair competition but unfair competition is bad for the simple reason that consumers are misled and our rights are violated.”
The Federation of Small Businesses says 9 per cent of small British firms have had their IP rights infringed on more than one occasion, often by firms operating on UK soil. The majority of cases involve trademark theft, patent infringement or copying of products.
Supermarkets have fallen foul of this recently, producing goods that look the same as branded ones and often have similar names. Earlier this year Aldi were accused of copying products by sausage firm Heck and yoghurt maker The Collective.
Amelia Harvey, co-founder of The Collective said: “Their strategy is clear, they’re taking cues from other brands and recreating; tricking the consumer into buying something that it isn’t. As a challenger brand with a small team, it’s beyond frustrating.
Firms are now being encouraged to ensure they have registered trademarks and other forms of IP in any country that they operate in a bit to combat the level of IP theft taking place.
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