Best Practices for Fighting Counterfeiting and Piracy

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Washington, D.C.) and the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (a coalition of 240 businesses and associations based in Washington, D.C.) has issued some real-world recommendations for protecting company supply chains from counterfeiters. The group’s publication, No Trade in Fakes Supply Chain Tool Kit, includes seven case studies from companies that have developed and implemented aggressive programs for fighting counterfeiting and piracy. Featured companies include Bendix, Ford, Merck, New Balance, Purdue Pharma, Torys, and Xerox.

Pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, for example, uses armored vehicles equipped with global positioning systems and counter-surveillance teams to transport its products and keep them out of the hands of criminals. The guidelines and case studies include brand protection strategies for purchasing, manufacturing, transportation, sourcing, packaging and distribution.

"Our tool kit provides both large and small companies with useful, effective ways to prevent their products and services from being counterfeited or pirated,” said David Hirschmann, senior v.p. of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “We have culled best practices from some of America's leading companies to help others fight this growing problem.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that counterfeiting and piracy costs the U.S. economy between $200 billion and $250 billion a year in the form of fake pharmaceutical drugs, fake auto parts, and fake electrical products and batteries.