According to a press release by the Coalition to Advance the Protection of Sports Logos, officials with the National Hockey League (NHL) seized over 3,000 counterfeit pieces of merchandise bearing logos of its team during the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs. The counterfeit goods had a retail value of over $140,000.
Source: Coalition to Advance the Protection of Sports Logos, “Counterfeiters Skating on Thin Ice With Increased NHL Enforcement During Penguins’ Conference Finals,” Press Release, PR Newswire, May 30, 2013.
According to the 5 biggest golf manufacturers, sales of counterfeit golf clubs and equipment is equal to about 10 percent of the total legitimate golf market.
95 percent of the sales of fake golf clubs takes place over the Internet, with almost all of the items being shipped from China.
During a Spring 2012 enforcement campaign, brand owners shut down over 20 websites that were selling counterfeit golf equipments.
The counterfeiters in China are able to easily reproduce a club using either a legitimate club or even using a photograph. By creating computer-aided designs, the counterfeiters produce clubs that look very similar to the legitimate club.
Buyers immediately notice the problems with the clubs due to its internal structure. Clubs meant to have a hollow head may be filled with steel, or the walls of the clubs were not made to specs.
Back in 2010, golf manufacturers lost an estimated $6.5 Billion to counterfeits.
Source: John Paul Newport, “Psst–Wanna Buy a Counterfeit Club?,” Wall Street Journal, March 22, 2013.
During the time period of the 2012 NFL season, officers with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized a total of $17 Million worth of counterfeit jerseys, tickets and other materials. 41 people were also arrested during the September 2012 to February 2013 time period.
The fake items seized by authorities during this time were unlicensed jerseys, hats, t-shirts and jackets. In addition, 168 counterfeit tickets worth $154,000 were seized.
Source: Greg Botelho, “Feds seize over $17 million in fake NFL goods, Super Bowl tickets,” CNN, February 23, 2013.
In 2011, the city of New Orleans had the most counterfeit NFL products seized during the year with over 7,100 counterfeit items. The value of the fake goods was worth over $1 Million.
As the site of the 2013 Superbowl, law enforcement agencies conducted raids in order to clean up the city of counterfeit merchandise. Nearly 800 fake items worth $29,630 were seized in the months leading up to the Superbowl by US Immigration and Custom Enforcement.
Source: “800 counterfeit sports hats, jerseys confiscated in New Orleans,” Fox 8 New Orleans, October 25, 2012.
United States based cap maker New Era reported losing $300 Million a year in sales to foreign companies selling counterfeit baseball caps. In 2011, the company seized 850,000 counterfeit versions of its baseball caps in 298 factories in Brazil, China and Vietnam.
According to company officials, only 30 to 40 percent of the counterfeit market in baseball caps are being seized.
Source: James Fink, “New Era battles counterfeit cap makers,” Buffalo Business First, September 21, 2012.
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized 13,023 counterfeit items during a two week campaign in Kansas City, Missouri leading up to the 2012 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.Included in the seizures were counterfeit jerseys, memorabilia and fake tickets. 20 percent of the fake items seized were products of other professional sporting leagues such as the NFL. In total, the fake goods had a street value of $540,000.
On average, Major League Baseball seizes around 600,000 counterfeit items bearing the logo of its teams.
Source: Associated Press, “Counterfeit MLB merchandise seized in Kansas City prior to All-Star Game,” nj.com, July 12, 2012.
Authorities seized over 15,000 counterfeit NFL jerseys in the days leading up to the 2011 Super Bowl. In total, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized $3.56 Million worth of counterfeit Super Bowl merchandise during the event.
Between the 2007 and 2001 Super Bowls, over 66,000 counterfeit items were seized in total over the 4 years. The counterfeit goods had a value of $6.36 Million.
Source: Jessica Dickler, “Feds crack down on counterfeit Super Bowl gear,” CNN, January 25, 2012.
In 2011, over 60,000 counterfeit clothing and apparel items featuring college athletic teams were seized by the Collegiate Licensing Company. The value of the counterfeit goods was worth over $1 Million.
The company also reported that nearly 5,000 pieces of counterfeit goods such as shirts and hats are seized each year outside the stadium where the BCS Championship game is played.
Revenue from licensed collegiate athletics generates $4.3 Billion a year for the schools.
Source: Kristi Dosh, “Cracking down on counterfeit apparel,” ESPN, SEC Blog, January 8, 2012.
In 2010, the Anti-Counterfeiting Group of the U.S Golf Manufacturers reported that 25,000 counterfeit golf equipment such as golf clubs, bags, shoes, and balls were seized in raids conducted across major cities in China.
In 2011, over 86,000 counterfeit golf equipment were seized over the course of 4 raids in the month of September alone.
(See the latest counterfeiting statistics.)
Source: Tony Dear, “Countering the Counterfeiters,” Cybergolf, accessed November 20, 2011.
The National Hockey League (NHL) has reported that the seizures of counterfeit jerseys of teams in the league has quadrupled between the 2008-2009 season and the 2011-2012 season.
In the first nine months of 2011, authorities seized a total of 3,200 jerseys.
Source: Sean Gordon, “Counterfeit: One of these jerseys costs $375 and the other costs $30,” Globe and Mail, November 4, 2011.
