2006 will be the record year for brand piracy

The record for brand piracy is broken every year - and 2006 will be no exception. As the World Customs Organization (OMD) announced on the fringes of a meeting on the fight against brand piracy in Dakar, the damage caused by the global trade in counterfeit products and the infringement of intellectual property rights is estimated at more than 710 billion dollars. "The trade in counterfeit goods has gone from being a small market to a real industry that kills," said Michel Danet, Secretary General of the 169-member World Customs Organization, according to reports from the AFP news agency. Today, counterfeits already account for 8 to 10 percent of all goods traded on the world market. The chairman of Senegalese customs, Armand Jean-Jacques Nanga, emphasized that the extent of the phenomenon has dramatic consequences in some areas such as the health sector. According to estimates, the trade in counterfeit medicines amounts to around 6 percent of the global pharmaceutical market. The issue of counterfeit medicines, which primarily affects African countries, was therefore high on the agenda at the conference. Other important points included music piracy and the counterfeiting of everyday consumer goods.