Imitation Nation

Senior Trade and Policy Analyst Piotr Stryszowski at the OECD published a piece this week in advance of the holidays called “The real cost of counterfeits is higher than you think,” about how the real cost of counterfeits isn’t just poor quality, but toxic materials and health consequences. OECD reports that counterfeit trade hit nearly $470 billion - that’s 2.3% of global trade. And it’s no longer just fake handbags. We’re talking auto parts, medicines, toys, even alcohol, products that can literally kill. The OECD says 65% of seizures continue to come from small parcels and mail. Now this data is from 2022, so we will see how the end of DeMinimis will impact this.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it is looking into seven incidents, including five fatalities, involving aftermarket air-bag parts that failed and ruptured during collisions. Federal regulators say they think the air bags in the incidents contain parts from a China-based company called Jilin Province Detiannuo Safety Technology, also known as DTN Airbag. Last year, NHTSA said it was aware of five incidents, including three fatalities, involving substandard air-bag inflators failing during a crash. Now the agency is connecting DTN to those incidents and the two additional fatalities—including a crash as recent as July. Air-bag replacements have been in focus since the 2014 recall of Takata air bags, which were linked to 28 deaths in the U.S. and tens of millions of vehicles recalled over the past decade.

France’s highest court reaffirmed Christian Louboutin’s trademark protection for their red sole on their shoes, and upheld a previous court decision of nearly a quarter million euros on a defendant who was found to have sold 12 pairs of counterfeit shoes and 628 handbags. The decision also reaffirmed the enforceability of Louboutin’s signature red-sole trademark under French law.

In the UK so far in 2025, Border Force authorities say they have seized a quarter million fake toys worth 3.5 million pounds. 90% of these were fake Labubu dolls. Testing conducted by authorities show that 3 in every 4 seized toys contain banned chemicals or choking hazards, despite being designed for toddlers and young children. Authorities say parents should prioritize safety, stick to trusted retailers and beware of unusually low-prices.

The European Union Intellectual Property Office announced that in 2024, authorities intercepted 112 million counterfeit goods valued at 3.8 billion euros, the second highest seizure year on record. The report has a breakdown of categories of contraband goods which is topped by fake CDs and DVDs. Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, and Poland accounted for 90% of the volume of items detained. The top three countries of origin, in this order, are the United Arab Emirates, China, and Turkey. Sea cargo remains the primary mode of transport.

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency made a huge bust in Northampton, which is northwest of London. The Criminal Enforcement Unit raided a facility that was manufacturing retatrutide, tirzepatide, and putting it into injector pens for shipment to customers. There was so much product I think it took them two days to log all the seized materials into inventory.

At the time of the raid, they found current inventory of about 2,000 illegally manufactured pens waiting to be shipped worth about a quarter of a million pounds. Authorities say the facility it has been used for large scale illegal manufacturing for some time.

The Mexican pharmaceutical firm IFA Celtics, which makes a variety of pharmaceuticals for women’s health, mental health, and metabolic health has deployed ForgeStop’s NFC labels in their production line of medicines. This is probably the largest investment in anti-counterfeiting technology that a Mexican pharmaceutical firm has ever made. If you’ve ever tapped to pay with your phone or watch, you’ve used the NFC technology. You don’t need to download a new app. Anyone, from patients to pharmacists to the entire distribution chain can use these to verify authenticity of medicines.

Additionally, these verifications get reported to ForgeStop who runs a global dashboard that brands can monitor. So if you’ve shipped a pallet of medicines to Mexico City and the verifications start popping up in the U.S., you’ve got a heads up on a diversion scheme. And since you probably know where you sold that pallet to, you know your suspects.