Casio Taking Brand Enforcement Very Seriously: Umesh Kumar

• Police raided several wholesalers and retailers selling fake Casio products
• Fake Casio watches and calculators were also seized

Casio, through a statement, informed that Kolkata Police has raided two major markets located in Kolkata (Bengal), India. Wholesalers and retailers, located Mehta Building and Burabazaar were raided by a team of police personnel.  Police raided these on 11 June 2019 and 14 June 2019 respectively.

Umesh Kumar Gupta, legal head of Casio India, said, “Brand Enforcement is been looked at very seriously by Casio. We would take this opportunity to thank Kolkata Police for their swift action. Casio will continue to take appropriate action to protect its brand image and safeguard the intellectual property associated with Casio products.”

Counterfeit consumer electronics are a big risk

A report by Research and Markets had earlier pointed out that the estimated losses due to counterfeiting of clothing, textile, footwear, cosmetics, handbags, and watches had amounted to 98 Billion USD. This loss had included counterfeiting from offline as well as online mediums.

Another report by Red Points said that such products are a big threat to online brands. The Red Points Report read, “More than 80 percent of respondents to the survey (conducted by Red Points in USA) cited Amazon as their primary channel for searching for consumer electronics to buy. Search engines like Google represented nearly 70 percent of search activity.”

It continued, “Amazon and eBay were ranked as the most popular outlet for the sale of counterfeit electronics online. Just over 25 percent of respondents using Amazon and nearly 30 percent on eBay indicated they had purchased the fake electronics goods through the online platforms.”

Nearly a third of respondents who had bought fake electronics indicated they had purchased fake headphones, making them the most commonly purchased counterfeit item by a large margin. There was a moderately even distribution throughout the rest of the choices, with smartphones and tablets scoring higher than other options. An “Other” category, which included fake e-cigarettes and phone accessories, rated nearly 20 percent of purchases.