Customs authorities in Eastern Europe were recently able to confiscate and destroy a “large volume” of counterfeits destined for the German market. For Wilo, this is the result of its close cooperation with customs authorities.
“The customs office of an Eastern European country contacted us since a large volume of counterfeit products were found there,” explained Dr. Thorsten Kettner, responsible for innovation and intellectual property at Wilo. “Luckily the employees here dealt with the issue in a proactive manner and inspected the products to see if they were genuine.”
In this case it was relatively simple to identify the counterfeit products, as the brand name was misspelled on the imitation packaging. To help enforcers protect its markets, Wilo provides customs authorities with special counterfeit detection training. That way, the officials get to know the typical Wilo green tone, for example, or design characteristics, such as Wilo products‘ wavy surface texture and red knob.
Additionally, Wilo acquires important intellectual property rights in Germany and abroad, and regularly investigates competitors‘ products, for instance at trade fairs. Communication and education also play an important part in the company’s strategy: Wilo actively advises consumers to exercise caution and not to fall for cheap imitations.
For Wilo that strategy pays off: Fraudsters notice the increased level of prosecution, and the number of counterfeits is decreasing considerably, the company stated. Taking measures against the often low-quality imitations is also important for the protection of Wilo’s brand reputation: “The customer expects to have bought an original and forms negative conclusions due to the faults,” explained Christian Kruse, Wilo’s Director of Sales for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. “We are fighting against this in order to protect customers from such incidents.”
