They pay dearly for the cost of processing counterfeit products V European SMEsat the same time, violations of intellectual property rights are a “splinter” in their sustainability.

According to a study published OECD and the EU Intellectual Property Office. (EUIPO) titled “Illicit Trade in Counterfeiting Risks for Small and Medium Firms”, SMEs whose intellectual property rights have been infringed have a 34% lower chance of survival than SMEs that have not experienced the problem.

As the number of so-called “monkey” goods seized by customs authorities at the EU border will reach around 42 million in 2021, compared to 27 million in 2020, counterfeiters are targeting all types of goods that small and medium-sized enterprises produce. , with some industries suffering the most losses. Significantly, according to the study, electronics, clothing, cosmetics and toys remain among the most widely seized counterfeit goods.

Billions of euros lost

According to a pan-European study, the risk of being excluded from SMEs whose products have been copied is very likely.

As for Greece, according to the data published by K after the Authenticitys Event in April 2022 in Thessaloniki, the loss in income of sectors such as clothing-shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, electrical goods, etc. from trade in counterfeit products, reach 1.15 billion euros annually. In fact, the clothing sector is the biggest “victim” of the marketing of such products, as it counts losses reaching 438 million euros, which means the loss of 9,134 jobs. This is followed by the cosmetics sector, which “loses” about 319 million euros and 4,313 jobs, followed by the health-sensitive pharmaceutical sector, where losses reach 175 million euros.

Chinese

China and Hong Kong account for most of the monkey products, with China accounting for 85% of seizures related to online sales and 51% of seizures of products sold offline. A big “splinter” is the violation of intellectual property rights for small businesses (10-49 employees) that invest in their development. According to the study, 15% of small and medium-sized enterprises that registered intellectual property rights claim infringement of intellectual property rights, while the share of companies engaged in innovation increases to 20%. An even harder blow for small and medium-sized enterprises is their limited information about intellectual property infringement. 40% admit that they do not monitor the market for possible violations of this kind or rely on random information about the circulation of similar counterfeit goods, such as customer comments or information from business operators. It is noted that small and medium-sized enterprises make up the majority of enterprises in the EU, representing two-thirds of jobs.