One in five Spaniards admits having deliberately bought counterfeit products. Two years ago this percentage was only 5%, with which the number of citizens who purchase counterfeits has multiplied by four in just over three years. In Europe, this practice only affects 13% of consumers, according to data presented by the European agency EUIPO this week. Spain is different.
Not only is Spain the second European country (behind Bulgaria) in intentional consumption of illegal copies, but in the age group between 15 and 24 years the percentage skyrockets, because up to half of the group of young people admit to having bought from purpose counterfeits.
This scourge in Spain is not just a problem of demand for this type of product, but of supply. According to the data collected a few days ago in the Fake Star police operation, carried out in recent months throughout Europe and coordinated in Spanish territory by the National Police and the Civil Guard, Spain is the second European country by value of seized assets, with almost 23 million euros, especially sportswear, luxury items and footwear, mostly from China, Hong Kong, Turkey and Vietnam.
Together with Hungary, Spain is the European country where not only are the most fake goods imported, but it is also the place where they are assembled and made, as it has hidden structures "in industrial estates, shops, warehouses and the complicity of manufacturing companies." logistics”, as recognized by police sources. In other words, the country has an illegal production sector (with criminal relevance) in situ within the territory.
Some sad records that should turn on the social alarm. Are there adequate standards? Mario Sol, a lawyer with decades of experience in this sector, believes that “there is a lack of political will to use police means. There are good controls at the border and production centers. Where it fails is at the point of sale, where there is too much permissiveness. There is a lot of demand for fake products in certain tourist areas and, due to the Spanish economic model, this makes it easy to find supply and demand. The consequence of all this is that, seen from the rest of Europe, Spain transmits an image of a certain laxity compared to other countries”.
"We believe that it is not a regulatory problem, but one of education," says Gerard Guiu, director of Andema, the association that defends the trademark rights of companies in Spain. To convince buyers of fakes you have to do pedagogy. And present specific arguments that people often do not take into account when it comes to getting a fake copy. “It is not just about protecting the industrial property of companies, but about protecting the consumer. In certain products, such as cosmetics or pharmacy, health can be put at risk if original and certified products are not purchased, with traceability. The same goes for children's toys. The fake ones are made with parts without any kind of guarantee and could even be dangerous for little ones,” warns Guiu. In this sense, we can give the example (real case) of some car mats that were not regulated and that were purchased in other unofficial channels: when they got caught with the accelerator pedal, they caused an accident.
Several factors have aggravated the phenomenon of counterfeiting in recent years. One is electronic commerce. "One of the biggest problems we have with parcels, especially with purchases that take place on the internet with packages that arrive without identification of the sender," they explain from Andema.
Other circumstances that have aggravated this scourge are the spread of social networks, which have become a distribution channel (and also a promotion channel) for illegal copies (products aimed above all at the most hedonistic and addicted to posturing young people). A study by the EUIPO has identified that 11% of conversations about physical products could be related to counterfeiting, and that 35% of conversations about digital content could be linked to piracy.
Added to this is the growing technological sophistication of copies, which have reached increasingly advanced levels and are similar to the original, and the cunning of criminal gangs, which manage to circumvent the law with great skill. According to several sources in the sector, one of the most common strategies consists of importing the fake merchandise on the one hand and the packaging, with the corresponding catalog of false labels, on the other, to hide the fraudulent origin of the material and thus ensure the possibility of assemble in a second moment without arousing suspicion.
The development of the globalized economy has also boosted the copy market. “Often the problems are found in the factories subcontracted by the companies that own the rights, which are located in developing countries, or in Asia. For example, we discovered a plant in China that manufactured for the original brand and at the same time produced fake copies for local mafias. It is also in these industrial plants, subject to soft quality controls, where criminals are trained. Like the case of those workers in Morocco who learned the business, went to Turkey and set up their own illegal activity," says lawyer Mario Sol.
The economic damages are enormous. According to the latest available report from the EUIPO (2020) on the situation of violations of intellectual property rights, the estimated annual economic costs of the sale of counterfeit clothing, footwear and accessories in the EU are equivalent to 7.8% of the total industry sales. The same study estimated that legitimate (legal) industries lose €23.3bn in direct sales annually (and €37bn combined) just by having to fight the market presence of pirated products. There is data that indicates that an SME whose industrial property rights have been violated has a 34% lower probability of survival than SMEs that have not suffered a violation of their rights.
These lower incomes also translate into a direct job loss of 263,196 workers (which becomes 373,476 for the EU as a whole), since manufacturers and retailers who own industrial property rights manufacture and sell less than they would have done in the absence of counterfeiting (and therefore employ fewer people). In addition, since the producers and sellers of counterfeits do not pay taxes, social contributions and VAT, it is estimated that in the EU more than 7,000 million euros are not collected each year.
Perhaps it is difficult to perceive the damage that acquiring a counterfeit good in a market can entail, but the perception changes when we talk about more complex products. There are examples for all tastes; from Viagra bought online (which is not subject to any sanitary control) to the corners of the deep web (the remote places of the Internet), which provide links to pages where you can buy fake goods, constituting a true virtual market of the illegal, with the drawback that these platforms can keep the bank details of the card. Extremes have been reached, such as medical machinery and technological products that have been purchased in public tenders, putting the information security of institutions and hospitals at risk.
Despite all of this, the latest perception barometer produced by the EUIPO shows that there is a minority (but half of it among young people) who consider it acceptable to buy fake products. His motives? 71% do so because they consider it acceptable "when the price is too high" or "when it is not available legally (61%)" and "when quality does not matter (61%)". Worse yet, half (54%) of these pirate consumers advocate this practice simply because "everyone else does it."
Paradoxically, 80% of those surveyed ensure that they are aware that this purchase runs the risk of feeding criminal gangs and that there is no guarantee on the quality of the fake product. The reality is that there is a legion of citizens who cannot resist the charm of illegal copying. And in Spain, as the data reflects, these behaviors are seen with complete indifference. And it is a mistake.
In order not to give in to fake merchandise, the tips are simple. If you find something very nice, but cheap, it is most likely that it is fake; buy on websites that are reliable, to protect your personal data. As for companies, the European agency EUIPO recommends that protection through trademark registration (and industrial design) become one of the priorities, "when many SMEs are more aware of tax or organizational issues."
And, on this last point, they provide a series of positive data: it is worth protecting yourself. IPR-intensive sectors pay 41% higher wages than other sectors and up to 39% of all jobs in the EU (81 million) can be attributed to these economic activities.
"We have an educational problem," says Gerard Guiu, from Andema. “Years ago it was thought unthinkable to allow smoking in public places, but it was achieved. Today emphasis is placed on sustainability and recycling. Why not start instilling, especially among the youngest, the importance of buying original products? ”, he wonders.
“In a few years, the same thing that happened with music will happen. At first, whoever managed to illegally download songs bragged about it. Now she doesn't say it and deep down she's almost ashamed. The objective is to ensure that the same thing happens with the counterfeit product”. From pride to shame.
In 2020, a pioneering study was published, Contributions of psychology to the purchase of counterfeit products, supported by the Ministry of Industry, the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, Andema and the Madrid College of Psychology. Elisabet Marina Sanz, a professor at the European University of Madrid, was the main investigator of the work. "Behind an act of purchase there is usually group pressure, a certain social desirability," explains this academic after commenting on the results of the EUIPO study. “You have to take into account the emotional aspects of the citizen”, she emphasizes. When talking about counterfeits, not only does the aspirational desire (through purchase) to belong to a group intervene (this is the case, for example, of a luxury bag), but the consumer benefits from a certain feeling of "non-imputability". ”.
“If the act of purchase is not penalized – neither legally, with a fine, nor socially – the citizen who acquires the false copy thinks that it is not wrong to do so. His reasoning is: 'if it is legal, then it is allowed. And if it is allowed, it means that it is ethical. From this psychological perspective, this researcher maintains, trying to convince the consumer that the defense of industrial property represents an economic benefit for society, even in terms of GDP growth, is not a convincing argument for those who, when acquiring a falsification, already receives an individual benefit with the forgiveness (or rather the complicity) of the whole of society.
The development of social networks has further complicated the equation, because influencers can suggest that to get a good outfit, hidden under the screen filter, it is not necessary to get expensive (and original) clothes from prestigious brands. It is enough to get well-made copies to appear and thus nurture the growing narcissism that triumphs in the networks.
In fact, studies show that there is no direct link between purchasing power and buying counterfeits either. Sometimes it's spent on an illegal copy to save money, but a lot of times it's done... simply because it can be done. "If even in a street market in a tourist area it is possible to find fake merchandise, anyone can feel in some way legitimized to carry out the act of purchase, without any guilt," Elisabet Marina Sanz gives as an example.
If in the EUIPO study the vast majority (80%) recognized the damage caused to the economy by acquiring counterfeits, the reality is that many succumb to the temptation of piracy. What is said and what is done does not always coincide. We are human beings.
