Macedonian Customs: China'S Counterfeit Sneakers Are Hard To Distinguish.

Recently, Mr. Karl Goff, director of the General Administration of Macedonian general customs, said that by 2007, Macedonian customs had not received 1 million 460 thousand counterfeit goods, an astonishing increase compared with 70 thousand counterfeit goods in 2006.

In 2006, there were 47 cases involving intellectual property rights, up to 207 in 2007.

800 thousand counterfeit goods have been destroyed, most of the counterfeit goods are NIKE, ADIDAS, HUGOBOSS, NOKIA and LANCOME, and other famous brand products.

Nearly 62% of the counterfeit goods are in Macedonia.

Macedonian experts said that the size of counterfeit goods in Macedonia is comparable to that of other neighbouring countries.

Apart from the price, counterfeit goods are most easily distinguishable from their packaging and misspelled trademarks.

The most difficult to find are counterfeit sneakers from China, because they often use genuine packaging boxes.

Macedonia is a small country with no large container unloading ports, so counterfeit goods are smaller.

As part of combating counterfeit goods, the Macedonian customs organized a publicity campaign to protect intellectual property in September 2007 and October.