This article looks at the newly created, massive illicit market in vapor products originating mainly from China and sold in the United States. Despite being banned in both countries, brands like Elf Bar, Geek Bar, and Lost Mary continue to circulate. What’s more, they carry authentication labels that falsely suggest legitimacy, further exacerbating illicit trade.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released its 2024 Review of Notorious Markets, highlighting the global online and physical markets for trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy.

The world’s first multilateral crypto-stamp has been issued by postal authorities in Luxembourg, Austria, Netherlands, and Belgium, as a limited edition, marking the fact that these digital-physical collectors’ items are continuing to gain traction.

In 2024, Japan captured global attention with its advances in anticounterfeiting. The Land of the Rising Sun, known for blending tradition with technology, is setting global security standards in ensuring that everything from currency to cosmetics remains genuine. This article describes recent developments.

According to experts from Brand Monitor, an online and offline market surveillance company, the demand for counterfeits of specific brands is generated not so much by end consumers as by retailers, who tend to piggyback off the marketing campaigns and reputation of brand owners, and draw in consumers with the temptation of lower prices.

Continuing our series of articles on the strategic perspectives of leading brands in their fight against fakes and adulterated products, we turn our attention to Johnson & Johnson (J&J), one of the world's largest healthcare companies.

According to Statista, the e-cigarette market is expected to generate $26 billion in revenue in 2024, with a projected global compound annual growth rate of 3.93% between 2024-2029. However, the vape industry, like other sectors, is having to deal with counterfeit products.

Famous writer and fisherman A K Best said it best – pardon the pun – with his quote: ‘the fishing was good, it was the catching that was bad’. Although he was not referring to traceability systems, the quote sums up one of the main reasons for implementing traceability on seafood: to prevent non-compliant fishing practices.

In a new approach, scientists are developing accessible and affordable methods to enable more comprehensive detection and identification of illicit distilled spirit products.

In April, StockX, the online reseller (primarily of sneakers), released its first ‘Brand Protection & Customer Trust Report’, offering a view into its anticounterfeiting and fraud prevention activities in 2023.