COUNTERFEIT CLOTHES, ACCESSORIES AND LUXURY GOODS

Clothing and accessories are still among the most common counterfeit goods encountered in the EU. In 2020, clothing accessories and clothing were among the top five categories of the approximatively 66 million counterfeit items seized at the EU’s external border and on the EU’s internal market. Seized clothing accessories, clothing, watches, bags, wallets and purses were also predominant in terms of their estimated value, representing almost 60 % of the EUR 2 billion estimated value of all detentions reported during 2020 . During the COVID-19 pandemic, counterfeiters were extremely active in promoting IPR-infringing goods on the web. Analysis of conversations on social media held between April and September 2020 showed that clothing, footwear and jewellery were the three categories of commodities most frequently mentioned in conversations, and linked to respectively 36 %, 21 % and 20 % of the overall conversations possibly related to counterfeit goods. China (including Hong Kong) and Turkey remain the main countries of origin for counterfeit goods seized at the EU’s external border in the categories of clothing and accessories, shoes, sunglasses, bags (including wallets and purses), watches and jewellery. These types of counterfeit goods are most frequently ordered online and discovered as part of postal shipments or on passengers entering the EU . Counterfeit items in the categories of clothes, accessories and luxury goods are still commonly sold in physical markets and stores. A large number of items are seized in the context of sport events and during the tourist season. Counterfeit items are sometimes seized in combination with other types of counterfeit goods and drugs. In addition to the counterfeiting and distribution of cheap items for daily use, counterfeiters still copy luxury goods and goods from well-known brands . Counterfeit clothing components, such as branded buttons and zips, are often sent in multiple shipments, delivered at different times . In some cases, counterfeiters produce items of very high fidelity, which are distributed to hundreds of outlet stores. Criminal networks use social media and instant messaging services as well as online platforms to advertise and sell counterfeit clothes and clothing accessories. In some cases, hidden links posted to social media redirect or guide users to marketplaces based outside the EU Live-streaming sales promoting counterfeit goods on social media have been reported in recent years. ‘Influencers’ may feature in videos where counterfeit clothing and footwear items, also known as ‘dupe’ counterfeit goods, are advertised at the lowest price. These videos mainly target young consumers and can attract thousands of views . Vendors of counterfeit goods can also use sponsored advertising on social media to target customers with deceitful offers of discounts or low-price branded products offered for sale on external websites . Marketplaces dedicated to independent retailers and freelance creators can be misused as well. By offering for sale products that imitate or exploit products protected by copyright, design and trade mark rights, the sellers may infringe third parties’ rights . Another increasing concern for IPR owners, particularly in the fashion industry, is cybersquatting. This practice involves bad faith registration and/or use of another company’s trade mark, or another sign that has become a distinctive identifier for that company, in a domain name, without having any legal rights or legitimate interests in that domain name. Domain names registered by cybersquatters do not always contain the full legitimate trade mark or brand name, but rather a deliberately confusing variant, for example a slight misspelling or replacement of a letter by a digit. Many suspicious domain names have been registered, with most being registered in 2019

Products

1. bags
2. clothing
3. clothing accessories
4. clothing components (such as branded buttons and zips)
5. luxury goods
6. purses
7. sunglasses
8. T-shirts
9. wallets
10. watches