Counterfeit consumer goods

A large portion of Cypriots have admitted to accessing content illegally, particularly for watching sports, according to a report from the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

The report highlights that 54% of Cypriot consumers are uncertain about the authenticity of a product, and 17% have intentionally purchased counterfeit goods, against an EU average of 13%.

Minister Stelian Ion attended the informal meeting of EU justice ministers on Friday, which focused on protecting vulnerable adults, protecting intellectual property rights through criminal law, the link between counterfeiting and organized crime, and digitisation.

Police in Greece said Thursday they have seized 21 tons of illegally imported tobacco at warehouses near Athens, allegedly used to make counterfeit branded smoking products.

One in three Romanians declares that they would buy smuggled products, found an IRES survey commissioned by the anti-illicit trade association ACTIV on the occasion of the National Day of Fight against Illicit Trade in Goods, which is observed every year on April 21.

Greece may not really be a production country for counterfeit cosmetics, but it is a transit hub through which they travel to other countries. The cost to local cosmetics companies is by no means negligible, as the estimated loss of revenues to the counterfeiters comes to 234 million euros per year, or about 20 percent of the market's sales.

Police in Athens announced on Tuesday that they arrested a former Greek international soccer player last Wednesday after he was found in possession of counterfeit consumer goods.
According to reports, Christos Patsatzoglou, 40, was stopped by officers of the the DIAS motorcycle unit in the western suburb of Aghia Varvara.

Greece remains among the top 15 countries in the world where counterfeit goods originate from and are sold in the European Union, according to a report issued by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Greece's financial crime squad announced on Wednesday that the number of counterfeit and smuggled goods it had confiscated in January-September 2018 came to almost twice that seized in the same period last year.

Over 675,000 children's items, including toys, clothes and other goods intended for children, have been detained by customs officers over the past 18 months. In 68% of the objects, the ground for detention is a violation of the legal framework relating to the protection of intellectual property rights.

A total of 4,400 counterfeit shoes tagged with a popular brand name were confiscated on Friday by financial crime squad units conducting raids at two stores in Attica and their warehouses.

Two Chinese nationals, aged 42 and 49, were arrested.

According to estimates by the company, which dealt in counterfeit goods, it incurred damages to the tune of more than 800,000 euros.