Counterfeit Detection

Commercial product counterfeiting of trademarked and copyrighted merchandise is a multi-billion dollar parasite on international business.

About Counterfeiting

Annual counterfeiting loses are estimated to be:

• $600 Billion Worldwide
• $250 Billion in the United States alone

The ISC estimates the impact to be over $3 billion annually worldwide in the Imaging Supplies Industry for their products.

Counterfeit Production Defense

Due to the technology now available to counterfeiters, it can be difficult to distinguish counterfeit products from genuine. Consequently, we encourage you to pay close attention to the 5 P’s below:

1. Person: The ISC strongly encourages you to purchase imaging supplies from the OEM or one of their authorized resellers. This is the one best thing you can do to be sure you are buying genuine merchandise.
2. Price: If the purchase price of the product is substantially under the market price or looks like a deal that is too good to be true the product may not be legitimate. The ISC advises you to be very cautious with these situations.
3. Place:  Be cautious if the manner or place of the offer is different from the normal process of business or consumer transactions.
4. Packaging:  Be observant for any deviation in color, materials quality, spelling errors in the packaging. Many OEM’s have a product authentication hologram or color shift label on the packaging to assist in verification. Familiarize yourself with those used by your brand of choice and check for them.
5. Performance:  If you notice any significant variation in the performance of the product from previous experience or obvious defects in quality such as odor or leakage, the product may not be genuine.

Member Company Counterfeit Information Sites

Some or our member companies have created anti-fraud and anti-counterfeiting areas of their web sites. Please review the following links for member-specific information: