Counterfeit Detection

About Counterfeiting

Commercial product counterfeiting of trademarked and copyrighted merchandise is a multi-billion dollar parasite on international business. 
- Annual counterfeiting loses are estimated to be:
    - $600B Worldwide 
    - $250B in the US alone 
 - The  ISC estimates the impact to be over $3 billion annually worldwide in the Imaging Supplies Industry for their products.
- One hundred percent of the ISC companies report that they have experienced counterfeiting of their supplies products in the past year.

Who Loses?

Everyone!
- Manufacturers lose revenue, profit and brand loyalty. .
- Resellers lose because they must compete with these illegal products on low price. 
- Governments lose when jobs are lost and taxes are not paid..
  Most of All customers lose because they do not get what they pay for

Counterfeit Product Defense

“How can I tell if the product I buy is counterfeit”?
 Due to the technology now available to the counterfeiters it can be difficult to distinguish counterfeit products from genuine.  Consequently we encourage you to pay close attention to the 5 P’s which are discussed 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.

For more in depth discussions and tips to detect counterfeit products please visit the following websites:
http://www.stopfakes.gov/pdf/Consumer_Tips.pdf

In the event you think you have a suspicious product with the brand of an ISC member company please contact the ISC or use our product authentication program (WIDCIO) described on this site.