The European Observatory on infringement on Intellectual
Property Rights has made a report in relation to the economic
cost of infringements in spirits and wine in the European
Union; this report aims to evaluate the consequences of
counterfeiting in a concrete field, comparing the sales
forecast and the actual sales.
In this case, the Observatory only refers to manufacturing
companies; it does not include wholesale and retail trade.
As an introduction, and focusing primarily on Spain, it is,
with €6 billion (annual average: 2008-2013), one of the
main producers of wine in the European Union, together with
France and Italy; there are 3,700 enterprises located in Spain
employing 24,000 workers. Meanwhile, in the spirits sector,
United Kingdom and France are the main producers.
Based on the EUIPO´s report, we could conclude that
Spain is one of the most affected countries when talking about
infringement in spirits and wine. These incidents have
consequences, not only on sales, government revenue and other
participants in the industry, but on employment as well.
If we focus on the figures, the lost sales due to
counterfeiting in Spain are €263 million (annual average:
2008-2013), being €173 million related only to spirits and
€90 million related to wines; comparing these figures with
the rest of the countries, in relative sales, although the lost
wine sales are at the EU average (2.3%), the loss in spirits
(10.4%) is only surpassed by Lithuania, Greece and Cyprus.
As previously stated, this situation affects employment;
actually, this report confirms that, in Spain, there is a loss
in employment of 969 people, the highest in the EU. This amount
only represents a part of the problem, if we include the
employment loss together with the rest of the industries
involved, the total amount turns into 5,064 people.
Finally, the government revenue loss due to counterfeiting
in Spain can be translated into €90 million lost.
This information provides a global vision of a problematic
situation and it is really valuable for each country to see its
scope so they can evaluate it and take action against these
infringements as well as trying to minimise them; also, it is
highly recommended to make people know about IP rights, making
them aware of the actual and the potential consequences of
infringement, so as to not become a part of it.
|
| Manuela Mendigutía |
PONS IP
Glorieta Rubén Darío, 4
28010 – Madrid Spain
Tel: +34 917007600
Fax: +34 913086103