Purchasers - the secret weapon to counter the counterfeiters?Bad news for genuine manufacturers, counterfeits could be even worse news for users In t

HP, an active BASCAP member, knows all too well the nefarious consequences of imitation goods. As the world’s largest provider of printing and digital imaging equipment and supplies, HP is particularly susceptible to the estimated eight percent counterfeit rate in the nearly €30 billion market for printing consumables in Europe, the Middle East & Africa (EMEA). Although these numbers add up to leave a significant dent in legitimate vendors’ revenue and bottom line, the damage to a company’s brand and reputation from dissatisfied customers (of inadvertently purchased counterfeit products) can be equally profound.

While the concern businesses and consumers have for the fate of such multinational companies may be in limited supply (particularly during economic downtimes where purchase price is likely to be the principal – even sole – concern), the negative effects of counterfeit printing supplies are real and unequivocal:

Quality and economic –
Counterfeit supplies represent a false economy. They are not designed with the same degree of precision or quality as originals and the resulting print will be of lower standard. Add to this the increased likelihood of failure or leakage, together with potential damage inflicted on the printer and invalidation of any warranty which may result, and the ‘economies’ associated with cheap counterfeit supplies expose themselves as fundamentally false.


Environmental –
Counterfeit supplies are not subject to the rigorous environmental standards and controls to which legitimate manufacturers must adhere. Their relative poor performance and increased failure or leakage rates will also lead to higher waste of paper.

In addition, such products will not be eligible for the various collection and recycling programmes operated by legitimate vendors such as HP. In 2009, the cumulative volume of cartridges returned and recycled reached 177,000 tonnes. More than 61 million ink and LaserJet cartridges were returned and recycling worldwide in 2009, bringing the total to date to 320 million.

Legal –
Businesses that use counterfeit supplies are actually leaving themselves exposed to criminal action and, knowingly or not, abetting illicit activities financed from the proceeds. Legitimate vendors such as HP do prosecute manufacturers and resellers of counterfeit supplies; and the penalties can be severe depending on the market. For instance, in January 2009, backed by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Commerce, HP carried out a stunning blow against organised counterfeiting in Jeddah leading to the impounding of – amongst other illegally manufactured products – 28,000 inkjet cartridges and 39,000 LaserJet cartridges. The owner of the raided company was also involved in other areas of counterfeit production and is expected to receive a long-term prison sentence.

While interdiction of fake merchandise is both necessary and successful - HP instigated the seizure of roughly two million pieces of fake printing supplies across EMEA in 2009 which represents more than double the value of confiscated items the previous year – it isn’t, on its own, sufficient. The IT company and its partners in BASCAP and the Imaging Consumables Coalition of Europe, Middle East and Africa (ICCE) know that it’s equally crucial to curtail demand through education campaigns that underscore the collective societal bane that counterfeits epitomise.

As buyers become increasingly aware of how to distinguish genuine from fake merchandise, as well as understand the far ranging negative repercussions of acquiring imitation goods, research suggests they will opt for what’s original and authentic.