Havocscope Black Market - Statistics, Data and Crime News » Counterfeit and Piracy

2009 Counterfeit goods seizures in Japan

havocscope — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:06:52 +0000

Customs officials in Japan seized 1.04 million counterfeit goods items in 2009, according to Finance Ministry. The total amount seized was up 10.6 percent from the previous year.

86 percent of the counterfeit items originated from China, followed by 6 percent from South Korea.

The most counterfeited good was counterfeit purses, which accounted for 55 percent of all goods seized.

Source: “Pirated goods halted by customs in 2009 top 1 million,” Japan Today, March 13, 2010.

Software piracy rate in China in 2008

havocscope — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:35:58 +0000

According to the Business Software Alliance, 80 percent of all software used in China in 2008 was pirated. The software piracy rate was down from the 90 percent reported in 2004.

Source: Bruce Einhorn, “Software Industry Loses Patience with China,” BusinessWeek, March 10, 2010.

Counterfeit Credit Card losses in UK drops by half

havocscope — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:43:57 +0000

In 2009, financial institutions in the United Kingdom lost $121.3 Million (80.9 Million British Pounds) to counterfeit credit cards. The losses were down from the $280 Million (169 Million British Pounds) that were lost in 2008.

Source: Jeremy Kirk, “Counterfeit Card Fraud Drops by Half in the UK,” PC World, March 10, 2010.

Illegal downloading increases by 3 percent in France

havocscope — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:35:12 +0000

A study released in 2010 found that despite peer-to-peer networking downloading falling by 15 percent, the illegal downloading of content increased by 3 percent over the same period.

The study found that the cause of the increase was due to less people using P2P networks but instead downloading songs directly from websites and utilizing streaming content services.

Source: Sebastian Seibt, “Study shows how downloaders skirt anti-piracy laws,” France 24, March 10, 2010.

Cigarette smuggling in Taiwan

havocscope — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:59:47 +0000

Taiwan loses up to $156 Million (5 Billion Taiwan Dollars) in lost taxes due to cigarette smuggling activities.

The Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation states that almost 10 percent of the cigarette market in Taiwan consists of smuggled cigarettes.

Source: “New way of cigarette smuggling discovered,” The China Post, March 9, 2010.

Number of counterfeit HP products seized over 3 years

havocscope — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:49:48 +0000

Between 2005 and 2008, computer manufacturer HP conducted 4,620 counterfeit investigations that lead to over seizures of counterfeit electronics products worth nearly $800 Million.

Source: Brandon Bailey, “HP says stolen components found in ink cartridges sold on-line,” San Jose Mercury News, March 8, 2010.

Spending by US firms to combat counterfeiting

havocscope — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:02:22 +0000

The largest US companies spend between $2 Million to $4 Million a year to combat counterfeit activities.

Source: “Knock-offs catch on,” The Economist, March 4, 2010.

Counterfeit Louis Vuitton seizures in 2009

havocscope — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:59:26 +0000

In 2009, luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton initiated action that lead to nearly 9,500 seizures of counterfeit goods bearing their logo, such as counterfeit purses. The total counterfeit goods seized was 31 percent higher than the 2008 total.

Source: “Knock-offs catch on,” The Economist, March 4, 2010.

P2P usage down in 2009

havocscope — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:11:52 +0000

Illegal downloading activity through the use of P2P networks decreased by 25 percent from the previous year in 2009.

Source: Greg Sandoval, “P2P music use down; users may be stuffed,” CNet News, Media Maverick, March 1, 2010.

Counterfeit electronic parts in the defense industry

havocscope — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:13:37 +0000

A report by the US Commerce Department in January 2010 reported 9,356 incidents of counterfeit electronic parts found within the defense industry, an increase of over 100 percent from the 3,868 found in 2005.

Source: Rachel King, “Fighting a Flood of Counterfeit Tech Products,” BusinessWeek, March 1, 2010.