The Counterfeit Small Arms market consists of the selling of unauthorized guns and other small arms that are being sold under legitimate brand names.

$2 billion worth of unlicensed small arms are sold on the international market each year, with 80 to 90 percent of those arms being counterfeit.

Source: RIA Novosti, “Russia set to crack down on unlicensed arms production abroad,” Russian News and Information Agency, December 5, 2006, (accessed: December 6, 2006).

The only official company in Russia that is licensed to make the Kalashnikov Assault Rifle, or AK-47, loses an estimated $450 Million a year to counterfeit copies.

Source:  Associated Press, “Russia to defend Kalashnikov copyright,” BusinessWeek, October 22, 2009.

Although the AK-47 is a Russian creation and product, the company that is officially licensed to produce the gun stated that 8 countries and dozens of businesses within them create counterfeit copies of the AK-47.

Source:  Benjamin Bidder, “Kalashnikov Manufacturer Faces Bankruptcy,” Speigel Online, September 29, 2009.

According to Larry Kahaner, author of AK-47:The Weapon That Changed The Face Of War, unlicensed production of AK-47s stems from the fact that the inventor of the AK-47 Mikhail Kalashnikov “never patented the rifle’s design – the thought had never occurred to him or anyone else under the Soviet regime.”

Source: Larry Kahaner, AK-47: The Weapon That Changed The Face Of War, (New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, 2007), pg. 210.

Around 100 million Ak-47s are circulating around the world, with 47 national armies utilizing the weapon.  Russia has stated that it only accounts for 10 to 12 percent of the sales of the weapon, with the rest being unlicensed and counterfeit copies.

Source: RIA Novosti, “Russia set to crack down on unlicensed arms production abroad,” Russian News and Information Agency, December 5, 2006,(accessed: December 6, 2006).