Speaking at the Fourth Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy in Dubai, Paula Nelson, general counsel (IP) at Nestlé, said that shoppers never buy fake food by choice.
"It's not that they just want to be seen with a certain brand," she said. "If they buy fake food then they have been deceived."
"If we boast about the value of our brands - and we do - then we also need to protect our customers who make our brands as valuable as they do."
Nelson said that although owning trade marks gave IP owners certain rights, including an entitlement to demand that governments provide a legal framework in which to protect those rights, and a right to be protected by enforcement authorities, she said that the responsibility to enforce IP rights "falls on the shoulders of companies as well as governments".
She explained that 11 million containers pass through the ports of the Congress host city Dubai each year - which equates to about 30,000 every day.
"Frankly I don't see why Customs should bother [to help] if rights owners don't give them every possible support," she added. She went on to urge brand owners to provide more information about their products, and training opportunities to Customs officials.
