The big battle of the brands

David Reid looks at how the net has thrown the battle over counterfeit goods into stark relief.

Legal action has been taken against eBay in Europe and the US by makers of luxury goods who claim it has aided the sale of counterfeit goods.

There is little doubt that auction sites such as eBay have revolutionised the market in second-hand goods by putting buyers in direct contact with sellers.

But, say the makers of luxury goods, alongside that has gone the growth of the net as the channel of choice for fake products.

Marc Antoine Jamet, chairman of the French anti-counterfeiting group Union des Fabricants and former secretary general at LVMH, said in the past people bought fake goods that were caricatures rather than copies and there was a limited market.

He said the internet, however, has allowed counterfeiting to become "globalised, more diverse and industrialised on a massive scale".

However, the internet is just one of the contributors to a market that is estimated to be worth $600bn every year.

Sales of counterfeit goods have grown by more than 10,000% globally in the past two decades, according to the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC).

BY-BBC NEWS