The 'Plagiarius' negative award, which was launched 40 years ago, "honors" manufacturers and retailers of particularly brazen counterfeits and fakes. Its aim is to raise public awareness of the dubious business practices of counterfeiters. Industry, politics and consumers are to be sensitized to the problem.

As Aktion Plagiarius emphasized at the award ceremony at the Ambiente 2017 consumer goods trade fair, it does not want the award to say anything about whether the respective imitation is permitted or illegal in the legal sense. Aktion Plagiarius merely wants to draw attention to the problems faced by affected companies and express the opinion "that clumsy 1:1 imitations are unimaginative and morally reprehensible". The association made it clear "that legal competitive products that follow a trend but are visually and technically sufficiently different from the original and thus stimulate fair competition are expressly welcome".

The procedure for selecting the winners: Before the annually changing Plagiarius jury selects the winners from all entries, the alleged plagiarists are informed of their nomination in writing and given the opportunity to comment. In addition to general case-related information, these reactions - if used - are also included in the evaluation. Over the years, for fear of public embarrassment, numerous imitators have sought an agreement with the original manufacturer before the jury meeting and, for example, remaining stocks of plagiarized and counterfeit products have been withdrawn from the market, cease-and-desist declarations have been signed or suppliers have been disclosed.

Internet and globalization as a risk

Aktion Plagiarius currently considers the internet and digital communication to be the main cause of the rapid increase in product and brand piracy. Although international police authorities successfully close down tens of thousands of websites every year for trading in counterfeit products, the supply of illegal brand and design products remains high. In most cases, the fraudsters successfully continue their business within a very short time under a new company and domain name, according to the association. This convenient round-the-clock availability of large quantities of supposedly branded products at ridiculously low prices from all over the world tempts customers to buy them. Customers are deceived with photos of the original products as well as fake customer reviews and quality seals. In addition, gullible bargain hunters often follow recommendations from social networks and click on "Buy" all too quickly and uncritically without carefully checking the imprint, payment terms, withdrawal options and the general reliability of the provider. According to the Plagiarius campaign, it is particularly important to take a close look and use common sense when buying online. Experts from consumer advice centers, for example, warn against conspicuously erroneous texts and especially "prepayment" as the only payment option before completing a purchase. This is because the experience of bruised buyers shows that it is generally not possible to reverse the transaction with dubious providers. The operators of fake stores successfully hide behind the anonymity of the World Wide Web and providers on large online marketplaces often use fake identities and sometimes change their accounts on a daily basis.

More appreciation for the original

For the original manufacturers concerned, unjustified reputational damage caused by inferior counterfeits and fakes is usually even more serious than the actual financial damage caused by unrealized sales. According to Plagiarius, disappointed customers may turn away from the brand and influence other customers with their negative comments. However, product development is a time-consuming and cost-intensive process and a great deal of creativity, expertise and passion goes into every new product. The Plagiarius campaign therefore emphasizes: "It is therefore extremely important for brand manufacturers that buyers once again value their products and the creative work behind them more highly. They must inspire consumers with enthusiasm for their original products and convince them of the added value compared to visually identical but inferior counterfeits and fakes. Brand manufacturers should therefore not only invest in brand protection, but also increasingly in consumer protection and consumer education in order to create more awareness of the problem.

Customs support in the fight against counterfeiting

According to the EU Commission, the EU customs authorities confiscated more than 40 million infringing products worth more than 650 million euros at the EU's external borders in 2015 alone - an increase of 15% compared to 2014. The majority of the detained goods also came from China and Hong Kong in 2015. The countries of origin also included the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and India. However, the EU customs statistics can only show part of the global problem, according to the Plagiarius campaign. It makes it clear that many Asian companies have evolved from being the West's extended workbench into serious competitors on the global markets, registering industrial property rights themselves and consistently enforcing them against imitators. In addition, the clients or importers of counterfeit products often come from industrialized countries. The nominees for the 'Plagiarius' negative award have also included more and more European companies for years, and often the original manufacturer and the alleged plagiarist even come from the same country. Increasingly, the counterfeiters are former production or distribution partners. Nowadays, the perpetrators very specifically check the existence of industrial property rights for successful products from competitors. If no industrial property rights are registered, 1:1 plagiarisms are produced without any scruples. Aktion Plagiarius therefore advises: To ensure the best possible defence against product and brand piracy, companies should rely on a holistic strategy consisting of legal, organizational and technical measures.