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COUNTERFEITS/ TOYS
source: www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpeak/
conprods.htm
www.timesonline.co.uk/article/
0,,2-1476053,00.html
www.bsaa.com.au/media/news/
nov25_2003a.html
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Several statistics reveal changing patterns among counterfeiters, with pirates moving towards everyday household goods rather than luxury items. There are lots of fakes even among childrens toys…- of particular concern is the increase in the number of seizures of games and children's toys, with 12 million seizures representing a 996% increase over 2002 only in Europe. Among these, over 1.7 million copies of branded toys and games (of which more than 60% were Nintendo copies);
- according to the 2004 global report carried out by Gieschen Consultancy (based on the year’s last three months of worldwide counterfeit enforcement activity), Finland reported the most incidents of counterfeit toys;
- counterfeit toys and games are big business, especially at Christmas. A counterfeit computer game costs €0.20 to produce and sells on average in Europe at €25;
- according to the Global Anti Counterfeiting Group (GACG), up to 12% of all toys sold in Europe are plagiarism, that is 1 in 10 toys sold worldwide. The main source is China, which seems to have a monopoly on fake toys;
- counterfeit toys account for 23% of the counterfeit market. British customs officers seized more than 58,000 pirated toys in 2003. This amounted to about €12.3 million of all toy sales in the United Kingdom;
- in the United States, in 2000, customs seized over US$5.9 million of toys;
- counterfeit toys make up 12% of the entire toy market sales in Brazil, which means losses for this industry in the amount of US$31 million a year. Toy piracy also resulted in the loss of some 80,000 jobs in this industry in recent years - a large number in a country with 11 million unemployed;
- in Australia, in 2002 counterfeiting resulted in US$131.7 million of lost sales in the toy industry, and US$100 million in the video games industry. Total lost sales in the Australian toy, software and video games industries was found to be up to US$677 million, which conservatively represented US$200 million in lost profits, according to the Cost of Counterfeiting Study released by the Australian Toy Association (ATA), Business Software Association (BSAA) and Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) in November 2003. Approximately 52% of non-traditional outlets and discount stores appear to endorse the sale of counterfeit products.
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