Industry Week's Special Report - Fighting IP Wars
In it's February 1 issue, Industry Week had an extensive article titled
"Fighting The IP Wars : The costs of protecting their IP assets,
plus the threat of losing market share to overseas black markets, have
U.S. manufacturers fighting mad, and they're learning how to protect
their turf," written by John Teresko
This story started out with more eye-opening stats:
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The loss of more than 750,000 jobs is attributed to
counterfeit merchandise, says the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
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Underwriters Laboratories estimates that the annual global
costs of counterfeiting stand at more than $500 billion. The U.S.
economy's share is as much as $250 billion annually.
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The World Health Organization estimates that 10% of all drugs are
counterfeits. For some developing countries the counterfeit drug share
can reach 60%, the WHO reports.
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The International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) reports that
the global trade in illegitimate goods has increased from $55 billion
annually in 1982 to as much as $600 billion today.
It went on to quote Brian Monks, vice president of anti-counterfeiting
operations at safety certification organization Underwriters
Laboratories (UL), saying that counterfeiting's risks are more than
just tangible business losses.
"He's referring to the concept that a brand and the
commitment to quality it represents can have value that exceeds a
company's physical assets. The risk is in having counterfeits associate
a brand name with negative connotations -- such as malfunctions leading
to a fire or loss of life or some other catastrophe that could lead to
legal ramifications."
UL's John Drengenberg, manager of consumer affairs suggested "the
ultimate solution starts with initiating an active program to determine
the nature of the risks and developing an anti-counterfeiting strategy."
ORBID View: John is advocating something we've been recommending
for a while - that is, a proactive approach to Brand Protection and
Diversion Control.
To simplify things, ORBID is offering FREE Consultation where our team
of product security experts perform an analysis of your company's
counterfeiting and diversion risks and discuss the options available to
address both immediate needs and establishing a sustainable product
security program.
Contact us to learn more.
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