Counterfeiting plague can be fought!

When the mainstream press talks about counterfeiting, the first examples that come to their mind are fashion, jewelry, perfumes and drugs. The global counterfeit and pirated products industry accounts for up to 2.5 % of global trade, or the equivalent of US$ 461 billion (EUR 381 billion) according to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), this is equivalent to the GDP of Austria, or that of Ireland and the Czech Republic combined.

Electric, electromechanical and electronic parts are literally the first industry impacted by large scale counterfeiting, according to data published by the Semiconductor Industry Association.

When it comes to electronics, counterfeiting impacts both hardware and software.

Software counterfeiting is often triggered by the fact software IP is insufficiently protected at the manufacturing stage, making it easy for dishonest manufacturers to replace it with an adulterated version.