Good to know for consumers
What is counterfeiting ? What is piracy? Who does it affect?
Our factsheet
Why do you warn against
buying counterfeits?
Import ban
Importing counterfeit goods is illegal in Switzerland. Customs can seize fake goods and destroy them, even when it’s ‘just’ a small souvenir for personal use.
Safety risks
Fake goods are of inferior quality. The manufacturers aren’t concerned about your health or safety. Danger lurks everywhere, especially in medication, tools, toys and spare parts.
Crime
The counterfeiting industry is part of organised crime. By buying fake goods, you’re supporting criminals who couldn’t care less about jobs and working conditions.
Loss of innovation
Counterfeiters don’t invest in research and development. Instead, they steal ideas and pay neither taxes nor social security contributions on their illegally earned money. This damages the economy and destroys jobs.
Warranty
Counterfeiters can’t be held accountable for warranty and liability claims because their identities are unknown.
What does the law say?
The logo on your favourite jumper, the design of a handbag, the patented clockwork mechanism of the watch on your wrist or the song playing on the radio: almost everything is protected, whether it’s through a trademark, a design, a patent or copyright. Even geographical indications of source such as “Swiss”, “Switzerland”, “Geneva” etc. may only be used if they’re correct.
And it’s not only the manufacturing and selling of counterfeit goods that are illegal. Importing counterfeits of brand names and designer goods into Switzerland, even privately, is also illegal. In addition to importing, the law also prohibits the export and transit of counterfeit products. Customs officials can seize counterfeits when being imported or exported and destroy them, regardless of whether they’re “only” a single souvenir from your holiday or an entire suitcase full of counterfeits. What’s more, you may also be confronted with claims for damages by the manufacturer.
Streaming and downloading content (such as music, games, films, e-books or pictures) is legal for private use. What many people don’t know, however, is that some file-sharing networks automatically access your media library while you’re downloading, thus making it available to other users. This is a criminal offence. The ban on uploading applies to all content. Downloading and copying computer software is also illegal, even if it’s only for the user’s own personal use. A person who downloads or streams illegal uploads doesn’t make himself liable to prosecution according to prevailing doctrine. Whether or not this behaviour is fair towards artists is more a moral question than a legal one, and one that every user has to answer for himself.
Due to its membership structure, Stop Piracy is politically neutral and can’t take sides where law enforcement is concerned. The courts (often also foreign ones) are responsible for closing an online counterfeit goods shop or a file-sharing platform.
Product categories
No industry is spared from counterfeiting and piracy. The range extends from car brakes to toothbrushes. Anything that makes money is counterfeited. Below you’ll find more information on the individual product categories.
Medicines
Buying medicines from dubious sellers over the internet is like playing Russian roulette. Not only are you putting your health at stake, but at worst, your life. Counterfeit medicine doses can be too high or too low or even contaminated; sometimes they don’t even contain the slightest trace of the necessary active ingredient. Instead, the medicinal product contains ingredients such as cellulose or insecticide, which have no business being in the product. Even if these products are sold as “natural, purely herbal” remedies, they often contain chemical agents that can be poisonous and are not approved in Switzerland.
Entertainment and software
The issue of copyright is highly topical in the area of digital media. The works of others are often thoughtlessly used on the internet. People decorate their own website with pictures by others, download software or share their own music library with everyone. For the artists and programmers, this means financial loss because their work is being used without them being paid for it.
Watches
Switzerland has a strong watch-making industry. Swiss watches are internationally renowned, popular and an important advertisement for the country. “Swiss Made” and the famous brands are seals of quality for customers world-wide that can be trusted. When geographical indications like “Switzerland” or a brand name are abused by criminal forgers, this not only weakens the brand, but also damages the reputation of Switzerland as a country that manufactures high-quality products.
Clothing and accessories
Labels live from their exclusivity. Companies put a lot of money into their marketing and advertising to build up their brands. This is exactly why their well-known brand-name clothing and accessories are so sought-after. Whoever wears cheap imitations not only damages the luxury label, but also impacts the company’s employees and distributors. According to Interpol, the money made from selling counterfeit products is often used to finance other illegal activities, such as trade in drugs or humans as well as robbery.
Case study Lacoste for students (in German)
Smoking products/vapes
Smokers who are tempted into buying fake cigarettes end up with a different product than they were expecting. Legal manufacturers meet stringent quality and regulatory standards. Counterfeiters don’t care what is in the product and they also don’t worry about the required hygiene when manufacturing it. Caution is also advised with e-cigarettes (vapes) – there’s a risk of hazardous chemicals.
Food products
Scandals in the food industry are increasingly hitting the headlines. Food counterfeiters copy well-known brands using cheap raw materials and no hygiene or quality controls in their production. Counterfeit or adulterated food products are a lucrative business in which the Mafia is heavily involved. Organised crime can be found along the entire food chain, from farming and production to the packaging and marketing of counterfeit food products.
Chocolate and other food products produced in Switzerland are popular worldwide. Whoever buys a ‘Toblerone’ chocolate bar expects it to come from the original manufacturer. Whether ‘Toblerone’ from South America, Gruyere cheese from India or Aceto Balsamico di Modena from Asia instead of northern Italy, they’re damaging the economy and endangering consumers.
Machinery, electronics and parts
Would you want to sit in an airplane with counterfeit parts? Or put winter tyres on your car that hadn’t been tested? As unlikely as it may sound, such products have been illegally copied for a long time. When products such as low voltage switches, chain saws or mobile phone batteries are forged, the risk to safety is pre-programmed. Counterfeiters act anonymously and, as criminals, sidestep all control. Buyers are lulled into a false sense of security, and the name of the original manufacturer is misused for defective and dangerous counterfeits.
Works of art
Art forgeries are a lucrative business. Not only do they damage the artists and collectors, but also the public because some forgeries make it all the way to the museum. Every year, organised crime earns several billion francs worldwide with forged works of art. A growing international art market, the low cost of producing imitations, the rising prices of authentic works and the internet all contribute to the spread of forgeries.
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