Counterfeit products — mainly clothes — cost the European economy 16 billion euros (US$17.42 billion) a year and result in nearly 200,000 lost jobs, the EU Intellectual Property Office said yesterday.
The findings, based on data from 2018 to 2021, show that fakes take the biggest toll on the clothing sector, costing 12 billion euros annually, or 5.2 percent of its overall revenues, the agency said.
Fake cosmetics account for 3 billion euros of losses, while toys represent 1 billion euros, although the office added that “counterfeiting, like any illegal activity, cannot be accurately measured.”
Photo: AFP
It based its findings on the number of items seized by police as well as the percentage of Europeans who admitted to buying counterfeit products in each country in the bloc.
A study from June last year found that one-third of Europeans deemed it acceptable to buy fake goods if the price of the authentic item was deemed too high — a percentage that rose to half of all youth respondents.
The bulk of the counterfeiting occurred in just five EU member states, with Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Austria accounting for half the yearly losses.
Based on the findings, Germany was losing 40,000 jobs a year, Italy 24,000, and France and Spain 15,000 jobs each, the agency said.
Separately, Uniqlo, part of Fast Retailing Co, sued Chinese retailer Shein in Japan, accusing it of copying its popular Round Mini Shoulder Bag.
The entities that operate the Shein brand must immediately cease sales of “imitation products” and compensate for damages, Fast Retailing said in a statement yesterday.
The bag, sold for about ￥1,500 (US$10.23) in Japan, has become a global hit, with Uniqlo warning consumers about counterfeits and similar products being sold online.
Fast Retailing joins rival Hennes & Mauritz AB in suing Shein for copyright infringement in Hong Kong, where litigation aimed at mitigating the threat posed by the Chinese rival has been under way since 2021.
Uniqlo filed the lawsuit against Roadget Business Pte, Fashion Choice Pte and Shein Japan Co on Dec. 28 at the Tokyo District Court.
“The company filed this complaint because it has determined that the form of the imitation products sold by Shein closely resembles that of its own product,” Fast Retailing said in the statement. “The sale of the imitation products by Shein significantly undermines the high level of customer confidence in the quality of the Uniqlo brand and its products.”
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
NOT TO WORRY: Some people are concerned funds might continue moving out of the country, but the central bank said financial account outflows are not unusual in Taiwan Taiwan’s outbound investments hit a new high last year due to investments made by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other major manufacturers to boost global expansion, the central bank said on Thursday. The net increase in outbound investments last year reached a record US$21.05 billion, while the net increase in outbound investments by Taiwanese residents reached a record US$31.98 billion, central bank data showed. Chen Fei-wen (陳斐紋), deputy director of the central bank’s Department of Economic Research, said the increase was largely due to TSMC’s efforts to expand production in the US and Japan. Investments by Vanguard International
WARNING SHOT: The US president has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imported vehicles, and similar or higher duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that a trade deal with China was “possible” — a key target in the US leader’s tariffs policy. The US in 2020 had already agreed to “a great trade deal with China” and a new deal was “possible,” Trump said. Trump said he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit the US, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump also said that he was talking to China about TikTok, as the US seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動). Trump last week said that he had
RSS