The Stuttgart-based automotive manufacturing group Daimler has stepped up its fight against counterfeit products and for better brand protection. The focus last year was primarily on safety-related products such as fake brake discs and wheels. According to Daimler, counterfeit products are not only illegal but also a danger to the health and safety of car drivers and other road users. Florian Adt, head of Legal Product Intellectual Property at the company said: “Over 1.7 million counterfeit Daimler products were confiscated in 2020. We initiated and supported over 550 raids by the authorities. This is a slight increase compared to the previous year – despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.”
Meanwhile, online trade grew significantly in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, which made this route even more appealing for counterfeiters. Florian Adt continued: “We have adapted our brand protection strategy and increased our activities to combat counterfeiting in online trading. All in all, we were able to have 138,000 fake products removed from online platforms. This is around three times as many as during the same period before the pandemic.” Daimler’s brand protection strategy consists of three pillars: “Detecting, Attacking and Preventing”. Suspicious products on online platforms and at trade fairs are inspected around the world to identify counterfeiters. Typical alarm bells for counterfeit items are a strikingly low price, noticeable problems with product quality, and goods being sold by dubious online sources.
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