A counterfeit Port wine
A counterfeit product is an imitation made with the sole purpose of fraudulently confusing the consumer and passing the imitated good as genuine. In general, products that are counterfeit are made with the aim of taking advantage of the notoriousness of the imitated good in question. Counterfeiting is a criminal act since it is an infringement of an Intellectual Property Right (IPR). In fact, it is one of the fastest growing economic crimes worldwide. Such crimes account for about 5% of world trade, representing about US$250 billion annually (source: Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau, International Chamber of Commerce).
The products featured in this section are frauds of different wines with an Appellation of Origin. By attempting to have a similar appearance to that usually associated with specific Appellation of Origin wine bottles, and presented on the shelves next to the original article, these products intent to mislead customers into erroneously presuming their origin and quality.
European governments and the European Union have in the past decades tried to protect the names of wine regions by installing the PDO and PGI systems of protection and by negotiating international and bilateral agreements regarding the protection of these IPR. In spite of these efforts, fake products can still be found in the global marketplace since:
- not all States in the world recognize and/or protect Appellations of Origin as an intellectual property right
- counterfeiting is a very profitable business
Aside from the obvious public health dangers, counterfeiting causes deeper economic effects: From job loss to crowding out of legitimate manufacturers.