Shocking prognosis: Rapid increase in piracy expected

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According to a new study, the financial damage caused by the international trade in product and brand counterfeits will reach an annual sum of roughly 939 billion euro by 2022. The sum was estimated at ca. 340 billion euro in 2013.

This rapid increase in piracy is one of the core statements of the new study “The Economic Impacts of Counterfeiting and Piracy”, which was presented in February. If additional factors such as illegal digital copies or strictly domestic production and consumption of counterfeited products are considered, the damage is equivalent to 1.8 to 2.7 trillion euro. Furthermore, up to 5.4 million jobs are expected to be lost due to product piracy by 2022, which will lead to additional financial damages in the sum of 1.4 to 1.7 trillion euro.

“This new study shows that the magnitude of counterfeiting and piracy is huge, and growing,” said Amar Breckenridge, senior associate at Frontier Economics and study co-editor. “The results show once again that in an interconnected economy, consumers and governments suffer alongside legitimate businesses from the trade in counterfeit and pirated goods.”

The study was conducted by Frontier Economics and was commissioned by BASCAP (Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy) and INTA (International Trademark Association); it is based on an analysis published in 2016 by the OECD and EUIPO (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development; and the European Intellectual Property Office).

Sources: International Chamber of Commerce/BASCAP, Frontier Economics

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