Luxury accounts for over half of seized counterfeit goods

Image: Pexels Over half of seized counterfeit goods in the U.S. are luxury items, with 435 million dollars of seized watches and jewellery and 283 million dollars of seized leather goods in 2020. Data from Statista shows luxury items such as watches, jewellery, handbags and wallets accounted for more than 50 percent of the seized merchandise’s retail value, despite accounting for only 30 percent of all seizures. The majority of the pirated goods seized by U.S. customs come from China, where 660 million dollars worth of goods originated in 2020. Hong Kong is the second largest market for fake items with 429 million dollars worth of goods seized in 2020. According to Statista U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seizes thousands of shipments of goods that violate intellectual property rights each year, with the value of the seized merchandise usually exceeding 1 billion dollars. In 2020, the retail value of the 26,503 seizures made by CBP amounted to 1.3 billion dollars, meaning that the seized goods would retail for that much if they were legitimate. Apparel accounted for 157 million dollars worth of seizures and footwear 63 million dollars. Tragically, the total market for fake goods is worth more than the GDP of Ireland, according to data from the Global Trade in Fakes report by the OECD and EUIPO. Gobal trading of counterfeit goods amounted to roughly 449 billion dollars in 2019, comparable to Ireland's economy generating approximately 431 billion dollars according to OECD data. The report also states pirated goods made up 2.5 percent of world trade and roughly six percent of imports into the European Union in 2019. Article sources: Statista, Global Trade in Fakes report by the OECD and EUIPO
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