In 2021, more than 3 million counterfeit articles were seized in the United Kingdom, with an estimated retail value around £142 million. By 2023, the volume of counterfeits came down to just over 1 million seized articles but, despite this decrease, the value of these seized goods rose to just over £200 million.
No doubt, the scale and human cost of intellectual property (IP) crime is significant. In research published in 2020, the UK government estimated that counterfeiting and piracy cost the national economy £9 billion each year and contribute to more than 80,500 job losses annually.
But the impact of IP crime extends well...