HP Revs Up Campaign Against Counterfeit

America’s multinational hardware and software corporation, Hewlett-Packard (HP), is stepping up its anti-counterfeiting campaign after a colossal lost of 600 million Euros to IT software and hardware counterfeiting.

Counterfeiting business which can be recorded in products like Compact Discs, videotapes and DVDs, computer software and other media that are easily copied and sold through vendors at street markets, night markets, mail order, and numerous Internet sources, including open auction sites is believed to accounts for 5-7% of world trade

HP is unrelenting through its anti-counterfeit products to stem the global economic sabotage carried out by those who engaged in products counterfeiting in the society.

During this year’s World Intellectual Property Day, Ms Rita Amuchienwa, Channel Development Manager, HP Imaging and Printing Group for English Africa, called attention to the economic losses and innovation killing effects of products counterfeiting in the nation’s Information and Communication Technology sector.

She challenged Nigerians to rise up to the importance of IP protection to economic development, noting that with huge economic losses recorded annually to counterfeiting,  Nigerians must come to terms with the need to be original and not imitate others intellectual assets.

To address the trend, HP actively fights manufacturing and fraudulent sales of printing supplies on a worldwide basis. They are also working with policy makers and non-governmental bodies around the world to toughen applicable laws and enforcement capacity. With a portfolio of over 37,000 patents, HP records the most counterfeiting cases in its printing supplies and consumables market segment.

By Henry Ojelu