News Content

US footwear most counterfeited in international trade: OECD

US FOOTWEAR is the most counterfeited item by offshore manufacturers, but there has been more talk than action to prevent it, say American producers, according to the American Journal of Transportation.

"Victims of intellectual property theft stretch further than the US jobs lost," said American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) vice president Stephen Lamar.

"Facilities that make knock off shoes, clothes, and accessories do not comply with regulations on product safety, worker safety and workers' rights," he said, citing China as the leading counterfeiting nation.

AAFA says that while the US agencies like the United States Trade Representative (USTR) have taken note of the problem, little has been done to stop it.

Imports of counterfeit and pirated goods are worth nearly US$500 billion a year, 2.5 per cent of global imports, with US, Italian, and French brands the hardest hit, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the EU's Intellectual Property Office.

The report put the value of imported fake goods worldwide at $461 billion in 2013, compared with total imports in world trade of $17.9 trillion.

In 2016, US Customs seized counterfeit and pirated goods worth $1.38 billion.

According to the OECD report, the biggest victims of brand infringements are the US, whose brands or patents account for 20 per cent of the knockoffs, Italy with 15 per cent, and France and Switzerland with 12 per cent each.

Japan and Germany stood at eight per cent each followed by the UK and Luxembourg.

Alibaba, generating $15.7 billion in annual revenues, has been in the crosshairs of efforts to stem counterfeiting, said the report.

Mr Lamar says Alibaba has been "sluggish" in implementing a programme to combat counterfeit and pirated goods, adding that "Alibaba was either incapable or not interested".

The OECD found that postal delivery was biggest method of conveyance, accounting for 62 per cent of seizures between 2011 and 2013, and reflecting the growing importance of online commerce.

Hong Kong and Singapore and free trade zones in the United Arab Emirates are the major hubs of the trade.

Other transit points include countries with weak governance and widespread organised crime such as Afghanistan and Syria.

AAFA wants Alibaba's Taobao e-commerce platform back on the USTR's "notorious markets" list. Taobao had been removed from the roster in 2012 because of made in tackling the problem, but Mr Lamar said the problem has worsened since.

To this, Alibaba said: "Our track record of fighting illicit activities is clear. Like all global companies in our industry, we must continue to do everything we can to stop these activities."

The 2017 annual USTR report, and the first under the Trump administration, did not mention Alibaba, but continued to place China on the priority watch list along with Algeria, Argentina, Chile, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine and Venezuela.