EUIPO and Europol have published a joint report titled “Uncovering the Ecosystem of Intellectual Property Crime: A Focus on Enablers”.

The report shows the importance of IP crime and how it is linked to other criminal activities carried out by organised crime groups.

It shows that IP infringements do not only have an impact on the companies facing economic losses, but also on health, safety, security and the environment.

The report is available to download on EUIPO’s website here.

Some key findings of the study are:

• Organised crime groups take advantage of worldwide demand for low-priced goods, misleading consumers into purchasing fake goods
• Approximately 86 million fake items were seized in the EU in 2022, with an estimated value exceeding €2 billion
• Counterfeit goods represent an estimated 5.8% of EU trade, with video games, board games, packaging materials, toys, cigarettes and recorded CD and DVDs being the most commonly seized products
• Sophisticated criminal operations use legal entities and loopholes – such as producing fake goods outside the EU and adding logos, tags and packaging in the EU – to reach consumers with their goods
• Over 1,400 investigations into IP crime were opened in 2023 through the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT)

The report is an operational action deliverable supporting EMPACT to tackle IP Crime, counterfeiting of goods and currencies. It gathers information on the threats behind IP crime and relevant data in preparation of the Serious and Organized Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA).

Photos of pesticides © Carabinieri, Europol, Romanian National Police, reproduced with permission