Between 2011 and 2019, Swiss SMEs accounted for 13% of global seizures of counterfeit goods, according to a reportExternal link published on Tuesday by the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In a ranking, the Alpine nation came second behind American SMEs, which accounted for over half of all counterfeit-seized goods during that period. Italy (11% of seizures), the UK (7%) and France (4%) were among the top five targets.
Fake watches
Large Swiss companies, with less than 5% of global seizures, were not as affected by counterfeiters as SMEs.
The report showed that certain SMEs were much more vulnerable to counterfeiting than larger companies. These included companies active in the clothing (29% of seizures among SMEs versus 16% for large firms), watchmaking (11% versus 7%) and machinery sectors (3% versus 1%).
“This reflects differences in the importance of SMEs in the different production sectors. For instance, the relatively significant role played by watches in the counterfeit goods trade affecting SMEs is partly linked to the strong presence of SMEs in the Swiss watchmaking industry,” stated the report.
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In both cases, the logic is the same. Firstly, the domestic market is too small. Secondly, much of the demand comes from abroad. And thirdly, Switzerland’s economic interaction with the European Union has made access to European markets much easier for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). “Size, therefore, has relatively little to do with…
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