Book review , Countering Counterfeit Trade, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg (2008), ISBN 978-3-540-76946-0; e-ISBN 978-3-540-76947-7
Section snippets
Background
Counterfeiting activities are more and more widespread in the current global environment. Although it is very difficult to assess more precisely the share of counterfeiting trade on trade activities worldwide, the estimates range between 1%–2% and more than 10%. Counterfeiting represents a criminal activity in practically all civilized countries worldwide. Counterfeiting is illegal infringement of intellectual property rights—mostly trade marks or service marks, unfair competition or copyright.
About the authors
Both authors are closely connected with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). Thorsten Staake is project manager and postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Management, Technology and Economics. He has conducted and managed numerous research and consulting projects related to counterfeiting for companies from various industries. Elgar Fleisch is professor of information and technology management at ETH Zurich and at the University of St. Gallen (HSG), Switzerland. His current
Book content
The book contains five parts and eleven chapters. There is a very useful short overview of each chapter in the introductory pages of the book. In addition, a review of the most important academic contributions is provided in each chapter.
Part A: Knowing the Enemy—The Mechanisms of Counterfeit Trade
Part A provides an insightful explanation what the counterfeit trade is and how it has developed.
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Counterfeit Markets
This chapter describes a phenomenon of the counterfeit
Critique
As mentioned in Part 1 above, I consider this book a very valuable and informative source for managers who have to deal with counterfeiting in their professional lives. Certainly, the book could contain an even deeper analysis of different anti-counterfeiting tools, but I think it would be very difficult to obtain approvals from firms concerned for the publication of such highly sensitive confidential information.
I like most Chapter 5 and also Chapters 4 and 6–7, for reasons explained above.
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