A very busy anti-counterfeiting desk at Mido
The 2005 edition of Mido, which ended yesterday, saw intense and prompt activity at the anti-counterfeiting desk carried out in collaboration with the Mainini legal office, which intervened in many suspect cases reported by exhibitors.
Mido was the first fashion-accessory system exhibition in Italy and abroad to set up a desk dedicated to checking out possible cases of counterfeiting at the exhibition; a key asset for producers, who were protected during the work of promoting their new collections.
Today, the counterfeiting business counts for 7% of international turnover. The eyewear sector, in which research and applied technology combine with the added value of fashion and design, is subjected to all types of counterfeiting: from logos to patents, from the alteration of models and industrial designs to symbols of origin (made in).
In addition, in this sector counterfeiting is often considered to be a necessary consequence of commercial success, but it brings about much more serious effects: uncaring about the detrimental effects of their work on companies in the sector and on consumers, counterfeiters spread products on the market that are low in quality and can often cause quite serious damage to the user's health, especially when considering the close relationship between the quality of glasses and their function.
It is precisely because of this factor that it is crucial that even at the time of the Fair, we attach great importance to this increasingly widespread phenomenon.
Operating since 1995, this year the 'brands and patents protection' service at Mido carried out a series of interventions in collaboration with the relevant authorities concerning consultancy, warnings and seizures and these were given full coverage by the media.
Specifically, inside the Fair, the desk seized over 200 pairs of glasses, mainly at Chinese, Taiwanese and British stands, and an entire stand of eyewear displays was sealed off. The work continued outside Mido: the Customs Office identified the Italian distributor of one of the counterfeiting companies who had a stock of 5,000 items at Cusago (Milan) which were similar to those seized at the Fair and were ready to be put on the market.
Apart from the widespread counterfeiting of the models (Silhouette is one of the most copied companies), the brands that are hardest hit by counterfeiters are Cavalli and Mikli.
Following the interventions by the service, Mido will verify the judicial investigations into the seizures and, if a case is not brought before the courts, it can take suitable actions with regard to the exhibitors involved, such as preventing them from taking part in subsequent editions of the Fair.
From this point of view, Mido also hopes that similar initiatives will be implemented as soon as possible by other exhibitions on the international circuit.
It must be underlined that this is only one aspect of the commitments that have been upheld by Mido and Anfao for some considerable time with regard to counterfeiting. We began collaborating with the Customs some time ago and, one year ago, this led to the destruction at the Association's expense of a quantity of counterfeit glasses impounded by the Customs at Gioia Tauro; last April 19 a joint Protocol of Understanding was signed with Certottica and the Ministry for Manufacturing. The same Customs Agency also had its own stand at Mido to raise awareness and inform all companies about important projects such as Falstaff and customs auditing activities.
