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Home | News | Italy clamps down on counterfeiting
Italy clamps down on counterfeiting
Thursday, 3 March 2005Italy is clamping down on counterfeit goods with tougher new measures.
The deputy industry minister has threatened that traffic wardens will fine anyone caught in the act of knowingly buying counterfeit goods. Adolfo Urso told an ICE meeting that he was "very satisfied for the immediate inclusion of counterfeit measures in the competitiveness decree", Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore reports. Mr Urso explained that Italy was not alone in its fight against intellectual property crime, saying: "We are together with France. We are two countries victimized by the phenomenon and want to give a good example, after which we can ask for help from the WTO."
A recent survey by weekly news magazine Focus found that 61 per cent of Italians were happy to buy fake designer labels and 70 per cent said they were willing to buy fake DVDs and CDs. Italian police and the countrys fashion industry have faced a constant battle against the fake designer market, which imports cheap goods from factories in the Far East and make regular seizures. Police in Florence last week seized £7 million (approx $13.5 million) worth of fake handbags, shoes and clothes claiming to be made by Gucci, Prada and Fendi.
The deputy industry minister has threatened that traffic wardens will fine anyone caught in the act of knowingly buying counterfeit goods. Adolfo Urso told an ICE meeting that he was "very satisfied for the immediate inclusion of counterfeit measures in the competitiveness decree", Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore reports. Mr Urso explained that Italy was not alone in its fight against intellectual property crime, saying: "We are together with France. We are two countries victimized by the phenomenon and want to give a good example, after which we can ask for help from the WTO."
A recent survey by weekly news magazine Focus found that 61 per cent of Italians were happy to buy fake designer labels and 70 per cent said they were willing to buy fake DVDs and CDs. Italian police and the countrys fashion industry have faced a constant battle against the fake designer market, which imports cheap goods from factories in the Far East and make regular seizures. Police in Florence last week seized £7 million (approx $13.5 million) worth of fake handbags, shoes and clothes claiming to be made by Gucci, Prada and Fendi.