OpSec Blog

Every Spring, IP Professionals from around the world have the opportunity to join together and collaborate on new ideas, trends and solutions. This year, both the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition’s Spring Conference and International Trademark Association’s Annual Meeting were held in Boston, Massachusetts. OpSec attended both meetings and spent eight days attending roundtable discussions, panel topics, marketplace workshops all aimed towards best practices and constantly evolving procedures in the anti-counterfeiting space.

I sit in my office today preparing to attend Brand Licensing Europe (BLE) week after next.  An article comes across my desk celebrating counterfeit seizures in the European Union (EU) exceeding 31 million items in 2017.  And this is why BLE is such an important show for OpSec Security.

Over 31 million items seized.  A statistic definitely worth celebration. That’s hundreds of millions of Euros that do not make their way back to the hands of criminals. That’s 31 million potentially unsafe items that do not make their way into the hands of unsuspecting consumers. 

Before you take a sip from that glass of water, you may want to consider where it came from. The sale of counterfeit water filters is becoming a huge industry problem. Unfortunately, many consumers searching for bargains on OEM water filters may inadvertently find themselves buying counterfeits that can not only damage their refrigerator, possibly voiding out the warranty, but also severely put their health at risk.

This past Christmas I made the decision to purchase a Yeti travel mug for my wife. I had heard great things about Yeti products and their performance and thought she might enjoy using it during her daily commute. I carefully researched the type of mug I wanted to purchase, along with the price and made the purchase through Amazon. Mug arrives, wife’s happy, end of story, right?  Wrong.

As holiday shoppers increasingly move to the internet for purchasing gifts, it’s not surprising that this year’s Cyber Monday surpassed 2016 by 16.8% in total sales (according to Adobe Digital Insights). Cyber Monday 2017 marked the largest U.S. online sales day in history, at $6.59 billion in sales. 

In early September the Imaging Supplies Coalition (ISC) held their 16th International Conference which focuses on Fraud and Counterfeiting in the Imaging Supplies Industry. This year's theme was "An Industry in Transition" and unlike previous years the internet and the rapid growth of counterfeiting was front and center. Topics that were covered included “What is the Dark Web”, “Brand Protection on the Dark Web, “Brand Protection on Social Media” and a panel discussion that focused on Online Brand Protection and Enforcement.

There’s been plenty of outrage recently over the unexplained rise in cost of Mylan’s EpiPen injector. Just last week Mylan’s CEO, Heather Bresch, attempted to defend in Congress the drug’s nearly 600% price increase over the past ten years. This price surge has left many people with life-threatening allergies that depend on this medicine to search for other alternatives such as generic versions, coupon offers, or discounted online sales.

Drug pricing is one of the main reasons consumers head to online pharmacies in search of cheaper options. By the same token, the price of authentic medicines is what drives counterfeiters to manufacture fake, substandard product and offer it for sale virtually anonymously online.

August has arrived and for those of us with children, this month represents an end to the summer and the start of a new school year. Soon kids will be swapping out their swimsuits and flip-flops for backpacks and tennis shoes. With back-to-school ads flooding our inboxes and pop-up ads on social media sites, it is no surprise that counterfeiters are utilizing these sites to lure consumers into buying fake products online. A survey by the National Retail Foundation expects over $75 billion to be spent on back-to-school items this year.

A colleague of mine recently shared an online article with me called “Can the NFL Ban on Marketplace Sales Succeed?”  Within the article, the writer describes a recent quoted policy by the NFL restricting distributors and retailers from selling to other online sellers and retailers. While the article leans towards the effect this will have on smaller retailers attempting to survive, it actually highlights a bigger issue that the NFL, and all brand owners, want to encourage: accountability.

Prom season is the time when excitable teenagers and their parents visit businesses - both local and online - in search of showy, expensive gowns and tuxedos for the end-of-the-year celebration with their friends. This time of year can be a major boon for businesses in need of a little extra profit, but many teens' dollars are going elsewhere as they seek more affordable options, though often, they end up getting a lot less than what they hoped for.