Kodak recognizes that global enterprises are facing increasing brand erosion and revenue loss from criminal activities in black markets.
When people think about black markets, they often only think about criminal activities centered on theft and the sale of stolen merchandise. Most large business owners have a Corporate Security Office which addresses this version of black markets and which protects the company’s interest against the double whammy of supply chain theft: increased manufacturing costs and lost revenue. However, black markets are more than a marketplace for stolen goods. Black markets are also a center for trade in counterfeit and illegitimately produced brand name goods, goods which are misrepresented as authentic product produced by authorized channels. In 2010 alone, it is estimated that counterfeit goods sold in black markets amounted to 1 trillion dollars in revenue. This amounts to income and wages denied to the owners, shareholders and employees of legitimate enterprises.
Beyond these direct and very tangible monetary losses, the counterfeiting activities which take place in black markets are also responsible for brand erosion and, for some brand owners, liability and warranty losses. Consumers who unknowingly purchase counterfeit goods can lose confidence in a brand when counterfeit products fail to perform as well as the brand name product. For some products, ranging from pharmaceuticals to industrial parts, low quality counterfeit goods can raise liability and warranty issues for to the legitimate brand owner.
Kodak has extensive experience as a global brand and has intellectual property leadership in the material and imaging sciences, printing technology and security solutions. Drawing upon this experience, Kodak has developed a portfolio of brand protection services and solutions designed to help enterprises address the threats arising from counterfeit activities in black markets.
Kodak’s proven brand protection strategies and countermeasures span sectors as diverse as life sciences, luxury goods and collectibles, consumer packaged goods, food, wines and spirits, clothing and footwear, industrial, government, document security.
