Countering Counterfeiters

Around two thirds of the fake goods come from Asia, harming established brands all over the world. German industry is now looking for new ways to combat product piracy.

What's fake and what's real? Looking at the two iPods in customs officer Andreas Urbaniak's hand, it's hard to tell.

But one of the MP3-players is a phoney, said Urbaniak. He and his colleagues at Frankfurt Airport have seized 20,000 such counterfeit gadgets since last year. They found most of them in airmail parcels coming in from China.

"We estimate that it only costs around two or three euros to produce these gadgets. When you buy the original, you have to pay a hundred times more," said the customs officer.

Piracy up 70 percent

Some 50 million euros ($67 billion) worth of counterfeit goods have been confiscated at Frankfurt Airport since January, according to Urbaniak, which represents a 70 percent increase over last year.

The counterfeit industry hits Germany especially hard, said Anton Börner, president of the German Federation of Wholesale and Foreign Trade.

"First of all we are a high-wage country and, secondly, we are world champion in exports," said Börner. "Of course the big ones are hit first."

German companies lose 25 billion euros per year as a result of counterfeiting, Börner estimates. But now the industry wants to strike back.

Tighter controls in place

In a newly launched initiative, German business associations are urging import companies and wholesalers to double-check every product they buy. His association will provide support, Börner says, and help separate the fakes from the originals.

The initiative is also backed by the German government, according to Bernd Pfaffenbach, State Secretary in the Ministry of Economics.

"We take these issues very seriously, securing property rights," Pfaffenbach said. "And we will also take this issue up at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm in early June. We are hopeful that a cooperative approach with China and others involved in these issues might be very fruitful."

Neither Börner nor Pfaffenbach expects product piracy to decrease considerably any time soon. Their goal is to try and curb it until international agreements can be put in place. Until then, customs officers like Andreas Urbaniak will never be short of work.