Anti-Counterfeit Friday



but, are those fake?

During the Rugby World Cup fans based in South Africa are encouraged to wear their teams rugby jerseys. It's known as Rugby Friday and it is a massive boost to the counterfeit goods industry. At almost every traffic light fake rugby jerseys are sold with a smile and most customers are simply unaware that they are supporting the biggest IP problem in Africa. So, Afro-IP has decided to launch an Anti-Counterfeit Friday campaign with news and views on counterfeiting in Africa. Enjoy ... oh, and beware those Springboks - yesterday's performance didn't look fake to me.

Nigeria: "Nokia last week revealed that consistent media campaign and other related activities in the Nigerian mobile market has significantly checkmated the spread of counterfeit mobile phones dropping the market share from 15 percent in July 2010 to 6 percent by July 2011." Vanguard [interestingly, the report does not mention any enforcement successes highlighting the effectiveness of alternative options]

Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control Dr. Paul Orhii, has said that "the agency has adopted sustained media campaign, training and retraining of its officials, reviewing NAFDAC laws, grassroots sensitisation, improved collaboration with national institutions, as well as establishing closer working ties with international drug and food regulatory agencies [in a bid to stop counterfeit medicines in Nigeria]." (AllAfrica report)

"Eaton and other manufacturers have been successful in conducting searches and seizures of counterfeit electrical products in China, the Middle East and Africa. These programs have identified hundreds of thousands of breakers and electrical components that have been seized and destroyed." EON "Counterfeiting has become a growing problem worldwide for more than a decade and has increased by 10,000 percent over the past 20 years." Eaton anti-counterfeit portal.

and, loved this one:

"Ecopark facilities in Torrevieja (Spain) last week welcomed the destruction of counterfeit items seized by police this summer from unauthorised street vendors." A vast number of vendors come from sub-saharan Africa, according to the report. Not all counterfeit dvds were destroyed though "During the past years, growers of La Mata Vines have been hanging counterfeit CD’s on poles and when the grape are ripe, so that, with the reflection of the sun, they scare away the birds from their crops" see full report here.