Counterfeits, Customs, andInternational Marketplaces: TheEuropean Counterfeit Problem

• Date: 01 June 2023
• Author: Benjamin Scarfi eld

June 27, 2023FEATURE

Counterfeits, Customs, and

International Marketplaces: The

European Counterfeit Problem

Benjamin Scareld

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©2023. Published in Landslide, Vol. 15, No. 4, June/July 2023, by the American

Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This

information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any

form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system

without the express written consent of the American Bar Association or the

copyright holder.

While cross-border movement of people may have been drastically aected by

the unprecedented lockdowns of mid-2020 onward, the movement of goods

across various borders has continued to grow. The age of the internet has

spawned a global marketplace, one that is accessible across borders,

currencies, time zones, and continents. Recent changes to law and policy in the

United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU), including the Brexit

withdrawal agreement, have changed how brands must enforce their rights in

Europe.

Intellectual property (IP) rights have always been territorial in nature. In some

cases, the global market can be divided up between identical brands jostling

for position with one another. Major brands sharing the same name are few

and far between, with the decades-long Anheuser-Busch InBev versus

Budweiser Budvar disputes over the BUDWEISER trademark springing to

However, in the day-to-day commercialization of a brand, often

the more telling issue is not legitimate competition, but counterfeits.

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