HP anti-counterfeit expert underscores fight against fake printing supplies in Egypt

The company's top officials visited the region in a three-day conference to underline its commitment to regional authorities and business partners in the fight against fake merchandise.

Many studies indicate that often small and medium size businesses in Egypt are tempted to save costs by sourcing cheaper goods, which contributes to the $200bn in annual global trade of counterfeit merchandise. The allure of imitation goods, especially now with the global economic downturn, is seductive.

While counterfeiting of print cartridges for HP's LaserJet and Inkjet printers is a global issue, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa are areas where organized counterfeit activity is especially rampant.

"Counterfeiters and fraudulent traders frequently deceive customers into thinking they are buying genuine goods, with poor quality print cartridges either packed in copies of original HP boxes or in reused original HP boxes. Buyers of counterfeit print cartridges run several risks, ranging from substandard print quality to printer downtime, due to damage by inferior counterfeit supplies,"

said Tina Rose during her visit to Egypt.

In the space of three months, 18 significant raids were carried out against suppliers of counterfeit printing supplies for HP printers in Egypt and Bahrain. In total, local authorities seized more than 270,000 counterfeit items and components intended for illegal re-use in these raids.

HP Officials advised consumers to purchase cartridges from authorized HP resellers to ensure they are not counterfeit. HP also highlighted the fact that counterfeit products can damage printers, decrease printers' performance, cause reliability issues and that the print quality produced by these fake goods, will not be up to the standards expected of genuine HP products.

Globally, from 2005-2008 HP conducted 4,620 investigations in 55 countries resulting in 3,528 enforcement actions (raids and seizures by authorities) seizing a total value of more than $795m worth of counterfeit HP supplies products. (Investigations and actions have occurred on every continent except Antarctica.)

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates the annual value of international trade in counterfeit goods at $200bn.

The World Customs Organization (WCO) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) believe that counterfeiting drains an estimated EUR500bn per year from the global economy, equivalent to the loss of about 5-8% of trade in brand-name goods worldwide, including the illegal trade in fake printing supplies. It is estimated that around 200,000 jobs are lost in Europe alone due to counterfeiting activities.