|
| Who’s Been Counterfeiting My Products? |
| A couple of weeks ago, there was a news story
about how $76 million worth of counterfeit Cisco Systems computer
equipment had been seized as a result of a probe by the FBI and
Department of Homeland Security with the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police.
|
|
|
03-12-2008, 08:17:52 | Read more |
|
|
| Drug-Tracking System Delay Shouldn’t Delay You… |
Per a recent story appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle
("Drug-tracking system faces another delay "), California is poised to
become the first state in the country to require electronic tracking
for prescription drugs as part of an effort to combat the $40 billion
global counterfeit drug trafficking trade.
Fake prescription drugs, along with diluted or expired medications, are
a growing problem in the U.S. drug distribution system. The number of
counterfeit drug cases investigated by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration increased nearly tenfold from 2000 to 2004.
|
|
|
02-06-2008, 11:53:18 | Read more |
|
|
| Consumer Reports: Buyer Beware |
A Fox television affiliate in El Paso, Texas did a story about
counterfeits and some of the things consumers can do to protect
themselves. Every year manufacturers lose more than $200 billion in revenue because
of bogus merchandise and more of it is being sold online.
It referenced a recent Consumer Reports article:
|
|
|
01-15-2008, 11:51:02 | Read more |
|
|
| The Dark Side of Deals – When a Bargain isn’t a Bargain |
| In the Sunday New York Times (January 20, 2008), there was an editorial
titled "The Real Price of Fakes, " which talked about how in tough
economic times especially, the search for bargains can have dangerous
consequences. It noted, "The World Customs Organization estimates
that 7 percent of goods traded in the world are counterfeit - a black
market that increasingly includes pharmaceuticals, electronics and
other products that must be safe enough to use." The piece closed
with this call for action:
|
|
|
01-22-2008, 11:44:59 | Read more |
|
|
| Numbers “Fuzzy” But the Wake-up Call is Loud and Clear |
Carl Bialik, "The Numbers Guy" at The Wall Street Journal, wrote an
interesting column ("Efforts to Quantify Sales of Pirated Goods Lead to
Fuzzy Figures ") about how hard it is to pin exact numbers profits lost
due to sales of counterfeit and pirated goods.
"Washington business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and
the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition calculate that global
counterfeit sales equal $600 billion to $650 billion a year -- numbers
parroted in news releases by companies claiming to fight piracy. They
build on the often-cited claim that counterfeit goods represent 5% to
7% of all world trade. That claim got its official launch in a 1997
report by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which cited
these percentages as only a ‘general assumption.' "
"It is virtually impossible to find accurate statistics to substantiate
these perceptions" that counterfeiting is on the rise, the ICC author
wrote.
|
|
|
10-23-2007, 09:41:45 | Read more |
|
|
| An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure |
The New York Times recently ran a story from Bloomberg News ("Bogus
Diabetes Test Strips Traced to Chinese Distributor "), that talked about
how a global hunt started by Johnson & Johnson found that a
distributor in China was the source of about a million fake test strips
that have turned up in at least 35 states and eight countries.
Potentially dangerous copies of the OneTouch Test Strip sold by the
company's LifeScan unit surfaced in American and Canadian pharmacies
last year, according to federal court documents unsealed in June. J.
& J., one of the world's largest makers of consumer health
products, learned of the bogus test strips from patients' complaints in
September.
|
|
|
08-23-2007, 07:59:13 | Read more |
|
|
| Swimming Upstream – Tracking Down Poisoned Drugs |
The thought of poisoned ingredients getting into the supply chain (food, drug, etc.) is a frightening concept, as noted in a recent article appearing in The New York Times ("F.D.A. Tracked Poisoned Drugs, but Trail Went Cold in China" by Walt Bogdanich):
Over the years, the poison (diethylene glycol) has been loaded into all varieties of medicine - cough syrup, fever medication, injectable drugs - a result of counterfeiters who profit by substituting the sweet-tasting solvent for a safe, more expensive syrup, usually glycerin, commonly used in drugs, food, toothpaste and other products.
|
|
|
06-28-2007, 21:06:03 | Read more |
|
|
| The Counterfeit Toothpaste Challenge |
| A recent Reuters story
("Colgate warns of fake toothpaste, may be toxic"), mentions that
counterfeit "Colgate" toothpaste that may contain a toxic chemical has
been found in discount stores in four states. Apparently, this version
of the product does not contain fluoride and may contain diethylene
glycol. Also known as DEG, it is sometimes illegally used as an
inexpensive sweetener and thickening agent, though most commonly used
in solvents and antifreeze. The story notes that the toothpaste
packaging contained many misspellings.
|
|
|
06-25-2007, 21:06:31 | Read more |
|
|
| Is it or isn’t it? Determining whether that Cartier is Real |
| Counterfeiters are a sneaky bunch. They can do some interesting
things to make a fake luxury item, like a watch, look nearly identical
to the original. Back in April, The Wall Street Journal had a story
("Ensuring That Your Cartier Is Really a Cartier" by Christina Binkley)
that included a picture of a
Jaeger-LeCoultre watch that was identified as a fake because the word
"automatique," which appears in very small writing on the watch front,
was misspelled. The story talked about how hard it is to protect
yourself when purchasing luxury items online.
|
|
|
06-28-2007, 21:06:45 | Read more |
|
|
| When Fakery Crosses the Line |
The New York Times has been covering the impact of "fake goods." One recent article
("When Fakery Turns Fatal" by David Barboza), delves into how producing
fake goods is still woven into the fabric of China's economy.
"Counterfeiting, of course, is not new to China. Since
this country's economic reforms began to take root in the 1980s,
businesses have engineered countless ways to produce everything from
fake car parts, cosmetics and brand name bags to counterfeit electrical
cables and phony Viagra. Counterfeiting rings are broken nearly every
week; nonetheless, the government seems to be waging a losing battle
against the operations."
|
|
|
06-28-2007, 17:06:55 | Read more |
|
|
| Engaging Sci-Fi Technology to Fake Out the Fakers |
| Leveraging technology to battle "a tidal wave of counterfeit goods"
seems to be a hot topic in the national business press. One of
the articles appeared in BusinessWeek ("Faking Out The Fakers " by Eric
Schine) does what you'd expect in a short piece in this type of
publication - provide a cursory overview of what's going on and what
steps are being taken. It mentions the use of "nanoparticles" as
marker molecules allowing gas companies to determine whether the fuel
you're buying is the real stuff or some adulterated mix.
|
|
|
06-28-2007, 21:06:13 | Read more |
|
|
| Foiling Counterfeit Wine Fraud |
| An AP story
("High-tech systems aim to foil counterfeit wine fraud") delved into
how some Napa Valley vintners are turning to high-tech fraud prevention
so customers can feel confident they're taking home genuine wine. The
article mentions a product offering by Eastman Kodak Co. that employs
invisible markers added to inks and other packaging components. Those
markers, which contain that "forensically undetectable material," can
only be detected by a Kodak handheld reader, also proprietary, which
incorporates laser technology.
|
|
|
06-28-2007, 17:06:30 | Read more |
|
|
| RFID is Bad Medicine |
You know that when a story ("Is Your Medicine Dangerous to Your
Health?" by Tom Zoellner) lands in Parade magazine (a regular feature
in Sunday papers), then it has been mainstreamed. This particular
article focused on counterfeit drugs:
Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigated 53 cases
of drug counterfeiting-up from six just five years ago. Though it is
difficult to chart how many people unwittingly ingest counterfeit drugs
each year, the injuries and deaths likely number in the hundreds.
Experts say that thousands of Americans doubtlessly have been affected
without even knowing it.
|
|
|
06-28-2007, 22:06:52 | Read more |
|
