An Ideal Market For Brand Holders And Counterfeiters

25 May 2018 is celebrated as AFRICA DAY and marks the formation of the African Union. Africa has seen a vast increase in investment and growth over the past 50+ years and many companies have already mobilized to capture this emerging demand.  

With the growing investment, Africa is being increasingly targeted as a market for counterfeit goods and merchandise as a result of the escalating urban populations' growing demand for many goods not widely available, as well as the lack of means to buy them.

Whilst the demand is growing for branded goods, and the instances of infringing and counterfeit goods are on the increase, the various Intellectual Property Rights protection measures available to brand holders differ from country to country and remain largely inadequate in most African countries and vary from region to region.  As a result, a "one size fits all" anti-counterfeiting strategy cannot be easily applied or adopted in covering the key regions and territories