PARTNERING WITH RETAILERS
Tackling Global Anti-Counterfeiting
By Alison Statham, Director of Operations, Anti-Counterfeiting Group
Product counterfeiting is an intellectual property (IP) crime - eliberate attempt to deceive consumers by copying and marketing goods bearing well-known trademarks. Product counterfeits look like those made by a reputable manufacturer when they are, in fact, inferior and illegal copies that can have a serious impact on the health and safety of the consumer. Counterfeiting is a growing global issue, with product counterfeiting, theft of intellectual property, and trademark infringement estimated to amount to between 5 to 7 percent of total world trade.
A Leading Authority on Fake Goods
The ACG is a not-for-profit trade association that was founded in the U.K. in 1980 with just eighteen brand owners.
The ACG is governed by a council of elected members and is recognised as a leading authority on the worldwide trade in fake goods. Today, the ACG represents 135 organisations globally.
The ACG represents the interests of U.K. and international companies who manufacture practically everything you can think of from toothpaste to mobile phones and chocolate to car parts. Our membership also includes lawyers, trademark agents, and brand protection specialists; creating a unique environment for anti-counterfeiting interests to flourish and collaborate.
Via our lobbying, networking, and awareness activities, ACG campaigns against the trade in fake goods on behalf of consumers and legitimate business interests, in partnership with Government, law enforcement agencies, and other rights organisations. Our ultimate aim is to change society's perception of counterfeiting as a harmless activity; exposing the worldwide economic and social cost of intellectual property crime through the use of an intelligence-led approach and the provision of real rather than anecdotal evidence.
ACG's Primary Objectives
As a means to best represent the interests of our membership, we participate in a wide-range of activities to accomplish our goals.
- Play a leading role in current initiatives to achieve national co-ordination of intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement, including the IP Crime Group, National Crime Agency, and Government Agency Intelligence Network (GAIN).
- Contribute to Government consultations and reviews (U.K. and E.U. level).
- Campaign for more resources for IPR enforcement and better understanding of the issues from local and national Government.
- Participate in industry-wide initiatives to raise the public perception of the value of intellectual property and the harm caused by IP crime.
- Encourage more effective use of confiscation proceedings by law enforcement against counterfeiters under the Proceeds of Crime Act of 2002 (POCA).
- Assist all stakeholders with further awareness and development of intelligence-sharing and collaborative actions with the Enforcement Unit at the IP Office, National Crime Agency, and National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.
- Continue to develop intellectual property roadshows, customs visits, and enforcement liaison overall.
- Support and promote ACG members' general concerns via the media and by maintaining good relations with Government and law enforcement agencies.
- Further strengthen cooperation and strategic working with partner organisations both domestically and abroad.
- Assist, promote, and contribute to conferences, seminars, lectures, symposia, trade fairs, and exhibitions that will directly or indirectly benefit ACG and its members.
- Provide an effective and responsive forum for members to meet and discuss matters of common interest.
- Continue to develop membership services via website, information database, conferences, and news updates.
Training and Awareness Activities
ACG continues to raise awareness about IP crime and its impact on business in a number of ways:
IP Roadshows. Held four times a year, these training days are aimed at raising awareness amongst Police, Trading Standards, and Customs and Border Force officers. They allow enforcement and Government partners to interact with ACG member brand representatives in order to learn more about product counterfeiting, the methodology of the counterfeiter, how to spot a fake, and input from key IP organisations, such as Trading Standards Institute and the Intellectual Property Office.
Customs Training Days. ACG and its members provide in-depth training to Customs and Border Force staff on site at various locations across the U.K. With the borders being the first line of defence against counterfeit goods entering the country, this training has proven to be very popular and effective.
Consumer Awareness. ACG collaborates with a number of other agencies, such as the Alliance, National Crime Agency, IPO, IP Crime Group, Real Deal, and others to raise consumer awareness regarding the threat from counterfeiting. In 2014 ACG has raised consumer awareness through a number of media campaigns, such as taking part in the BBCÕs X-Ray programme highlighting the threat to consumer and business from the sale of counterfeits at open air markets, as well as the BBC's 'Crimewatch Roadshow' programme to highlight the potential safety and economic impact that comes from product counterfeiting.
Annual Conference. Entitled 'Challenges and Opportunities', this year's annual conference will be held on the 23rd and 24th October 2014 at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel in London. The conference is already gearing up to be a well-timed follow-up to the International IP Summit, which was held in London in June, and will be covering both domestic and international topics, education, as well as enforcement and disruption. More information can be found at a-cg.org.
The Role of the Intelligence Coordinator
Faced with numerous calls for evidence from both Government and enforcement agencies regarding the true scale and impact of product counterfeiting and its links to organised crime, ACG members are regularly challenged to provide timely and accurate intelligence products in a coherent and coordinated manner.
Since the creation of our Intelligence Coordinator role in 2012, ACG and its members have developed strategies and processes that have established our position as equals at the enforcement table; regularly providing valuable intelligence and insight into counterfeiting activities throughout the U.K. and internationally.
Acting as a central, single point of contact for law enforcement, Government and industry sector companies, the Intelligence Coordinator role has increased the amount of reporting by brands into the IPO's Intelligence Hub, collected and disseminated real rather than anecdotal evidence to enforcement and Government partners, and has initiated and supported high-value Trading Standards, Police, and GAIN investigations.
The evidence collected also strengthens ACG's ability to lobby Government to ensure that appropriate and robust legislation and resources are in place to combat IP crime. This role has proved popular with both ACG members and Government and enforcement partners. We will look to develop it further during the next twelve months.
Online Enforcement Initiatives
Since the inception of the Internet and world-wide web, consumers and retailers alike have benefited from the availability of genuine goods on a range of online marketplaces and auction sites.
Unfortunately, as is the case with most innovation, the Internet also provides an opportunity for criminals to benefit from the consumer demand for cheap designer products. We have seen an incredible growth in the availability of counterfeit designer goods and branded products on online platforms, such as eBay, Amazon, Gumtree, and others.
The Internet provides a counterfeiter with the ability to reach millions of consumers worldwide and advertise or sell their products in relative anonymity. ACG and its members regularly interact with the selling and auction platforms, resulting in positive steps towards the removal of illicit goods and traders by law enforcement agencies and partners.
Operation WATCH. Over the last few years ACG members have seen an increase in the availability of counterfeit goods on the social media platform Facebook where on a daily basis tens of thousands of counterfeit items are made available to Facebook users. In December 2013 in an attempt to combat this growing trend, ACG commenced a Facebook initiative known as Operation WATCH.
Facebook traders openly publish albums on their pages that contain images of available counterfeit merchandise, including clothing, footwear, jewellery, handbags, purses, music, games, films, and other goods. These illicit traders engage in private and open messaging on their Facebook page in order to sell these infringing products. Driven by greed, these traders use a host of payment methods. including credit and debit cards, PayPal, postal order, and cash.
This type of social network allows traders and their customers to recommend a trader to other friends and contacts. As a result many traders have in excess of 1,000 Facebook 'friends' to whom they can ply their trade.
In December 2013 in order to reduce the impact of this criminal activity, ACG and seventeen of its members, who are all well-known High Street brands, instigated Operation WATCH, which consisted of a two-pronged programme.
Phase one consisted of intelligence collection (Brands and Trading Standards) relating to the scale and scope of product counterfeiting on Facebook. This established some 30,000 individual listings and hundreds of traders selling counterfeit goods.
Phase Two. Following the intelligence collection phase, ACG and its members carried out administrative takedowns of traders off the Facebook platform. This three-day action, coordinated by our Intelligence Coordinator, resulted in 650 traders and 2,500 listings being made subject to takedown action, such as the removal of infringing images and profiles from Facebook.
This second phase of Operation WATCH took place on the 16th and 17th of June 2014. On this occasion twenty ACG member brands took part and identified a top twenty trader list, some of whom were offering several thousand illicit and counterfeit articles and products ranging from electrical goods to luxury products, clothing, footwear, perfume, and fitness DVDs. All of the top twenty were referred to national Police and Trading Standards units for further investigation. An additional 179 traders were made subject to administrative takedown activity with just over 3,000 individual listings and images removed. Almost 60 percent of the traders targeted in this action had their entire Facebook profile closed down.
Facebook has been very supportive of this initiative, which has been hailed as a success by law enforcement, Government, and industry sectors. Operation WATCH has gained tremendous momentum, and an entire range of activities are planned throughout 2014 and 2015 to tackle counterfeiting on social media.
As ACG continues to engage with new and current stakeholders across the globe, it forges essential relationships and encourages best practices to be shared in an environment that simply has to keep up with the challenges it constantly faces. For further information on the ACG, visit a-cg.org.
ALISON STATHAM has been with the Anti-Counterfeiting Group (ACG) for nearly ten years and was recently promoted to director of operations, responsible for the effective leadership, development, and performance of ACG as well as having executive responsibility for day-to-day operations. She is responsible for organising anti-counterfeiting events across the U.K., reaching a wide variety of anti-counterfeiting personnel to include the Police, Trading Standards, and Border Force as well as brand protection specialists from the manufacturing and legal professions. Statham comes from a trade association background and held a similar role for the Toy Retailers Association for a number of years.
