Counterfeit Prevention for Brands: A Manager's Action Plan

!Decorative title card illustration

The plan is simple to state and hard to skip: rank your SKUs and channels by counterfeit risk, layer physical and digital authentication onto the vulnerable ones, then run continuous monitoring so enforcement happens in days, not months. Digital Product Passports (DPPs) sit at the center of that digital layer, and platforms like DPP Grid exist to make the data side of that work manageable. Bodies like EUIPO and the IP Enforcement Portal (IPEP) already give brands the infrastructure to act fast, once the internal plan exists.

Five moves to assign this week:

• Pull your top 20 SKUs by revenue and cross-reference them against past infringement reports.
• Audit your three highest-volume marketplace listings for unauthorized sellers.
• Confirm someone owns your customs recordal filings.
• Check whether your packaging or labels carry any serialized identifier at all.
• Ask your ops lead whether product data lives in one system or six spreadsheets.

Quick stat: the EU's 2024 Recommendation ties counterfeiting directly to organized criminal networks and calls for tighter information-sharing between rightsholders, marketplaces and logistics providers as a core defense.

Effective counterfeit prevention for brands combines risk-based SKU prioritization, layered physical and digital authentication, continuous marketplace monitoring, and a prepared enforcement workflow.

• Why Counterfeit Prevention for Brands Matters Right Now
• The Multi-Layered Prevention Framework
• How Do You Detect Counterfeits Before They Spread?
• What Should You Do When You Find Counterfeit Goods?
• What Does a Brand Protection Program Cost to Run?
• Digital Product Passports in Practice
• Why We Focus on DPPs as a Foundation
• How DPP Grid Fits Into Your Prevention Plan
• Sources
• FAQ

Counterfeiting isn't a shoplifting problem scaled up. The Commission's own enforcement documents describe it as organized criminal activity with real consumer-safety consequences, not just brand embarrassment. Fake electronics start fires. Counterfeit cosmetics cause reactions. Fake children's toys fail basic safety testing that the originals passed.

Three categories carry the most exposure: fashion and footwear (easy to replicate, hard to trace), electronics and batteries (safety-critical, high margin for counterfeiters), and anything sold through open marketplaces with third-party sellers. Cross-border parcel shipments compound the problem because customs officers rarely have time to verify authenticity on low-value packages at scale.

Prioritize where the money and the risk overlap:

• SKUs with high resale value and low physical differentiation
• Products already flagged in past takedown requests
• Anything sold through marketplaces you don't directly control
• Items crossing borders in high parcel volumes with minimal inspection

No single tool stops counterfeiting. The EU's own guidance recommends combining electronic tracking, physical markers, and information sharing rather than betting on one method, and that framework holds up in practice.

Layer 1: Product design and packaging. Tamper-evident seals, microtext, and hard-to-source materials raise the cost of replication. Cheap to add at manufacturing, but easy for sophisticated counterfeiters to eventually copy.

!Close-up of tamper-evident seal on apparel packaging

Layer 2: Physical markers. Forensic ink, holograms, and security threads work well for high-value goods but need lab verification to check, which slows down field enforcement.

Layer 3: Serialized identifiers and QR codes. Every unit gets a unique code tying it to a database record. This is where authentication stops being purely physical and becomes checkable by anyone with a phone.

!Hands scanning QR code on garment tag

Layer 4: Digital Product Passports. A DPP links that serialized code to verified product data (materials, manufacturing origin, supporting documents) that customs and consumers can both check. It doesn't replace the physical layer. It exposes inconsistencies a counterfeiter can't fake because they don't have access to your real supplier evidence.

Layer 5: Supply-chain traceability and audits. Regular supplier verification catches diversion (genuine goods leaking into unauthorized channels) before it becomes a counterfeiting problem.

Layer 6: Marketplace controls and legal recordals. Trademark recordals with customs authorities and standing takedown agreements with major marketplaces mean you're not starting from zero every time.

Implementation checklist, roughly in priority order:

1. Identify your three highest-risk SKUs and start there, not everywhere at once.
2. Choose serialization: in-house numbering system or a vendor platform with QR generation built in.
3. Decide DPP scope: model-level, batch-level, or individual-item records.
4. File or update trademark recordals with relevant customs authorities.
5. Set up at least one marketplace takedown agreement or trusted-flagger relationship.

Pro Tip: Pair your serialized QR code with your DPP record from day one, rather than bolting one onto the other later. A code that resolves to a real, evidence-backed product page does double duty: it authenticates for you and informs the customer, which is exactly the kind of proactive verification EUIPO's AUTHENTIC view framework is built around.

Detection speed determines how much damage a counterfeit run does before you shut it down. Set up coverage across four channels: marketplace listings (automated image and keyword scanning), social commerce, customs screening points, and secondary/resale markets where diverted or fake goods often surface first.

Process steps that actually work:

1. Run automated brand-watch scans weekly at minimum, daily for high-risk SKUs.
2. Set an escalation threshold: three or more suspicious listings from one seller triggers manual review.
3. Log evidence immediately, screenshot, URL, seller ID, price, before the listing disappears.
4. Route confirmed fakes through your fastest takedown channel first.

A central DPP registry will let customs authorities run automated pre-arrival checks against a valid registration identifier, which is a meaningfully faster screening method than manual document review at the border.

Pro Tip: Modernize your Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with major marketplaces and use IPEP for cross-border data sharing. Brands still relying on one-off email requests to marketplace trust and safety teams lose days that a standing agreement would save.

Monitoring coverage checklist: top three marketplaces, one image-search tool, one social platform sweep, and a direct line to your customs broker for import-point alerts.

Preserve evidence before you do anything else. Screenshot the listing, save the URL, log seller identifiers, and if possible, buy a sample unit to document serial numbers, batch codes, or the absence of a valid DPP ID. Chain-of-custody matters if this ever reaches litigation.

Then pick your notice path:

1. Standard marketplace takedown notice for straightforward cases.
2. Trusted-flagger channel if you or your counsel hold that status, it moves faster under Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 notice-and-action rules.
3. IPEP eAFA filing when goods are crossing borders and customs seizure is the goal.
4. EU Safety Gate notification if the counterfeit poses a physical safety risk, this triggers market surveillance cooperation under GPSR.

Escalate to law enforcement or civil litigation when takedowns don't stop repeat sellers, and trigger a formal recall process only when safety data supports it.

Enforcement checklist: evidence saved, chain-of-custody logged, correct notice path chosen, escalation owner named, timeline tracked.

Most brands land on one of three models: a fully internal team (legal plus a dedicated brand-protection manager), a managed service handling monitoring and takedowns, or a hybrid where internal staff own strategy and vendors handle volume work like scanning and notice filing.

A pilot program, one or two high-risk SKUs, basic marketplace monitoring, one serialization rollout, typically takes a few months to stand up before you can judge results. Scaling to full catalog coverage and adding DPP infrastructure is a longer runway, often a year or more depending on catalog size and supplier readiness.

Track these KPIs from day one:

• Detection-to-takedown time
• Listing removal rate
• Customs seizure volume
• Revenue recovered from closed counterfeit channels
• Consumer-report conversion (how many flagged items came from customers, not scans)

Frame the budget ask around revenue protection and safety-risk reduction. That's the argument finance teams actually approve.

A DPP is a digital record tied to a specific product, model, batch, or individual unit, that holds verified data: materials, manufacturing origin, supporting documents, and safety information. Scan the code, and you're looking at data the brand itself has approved, not a manufacturer's marketing claim.

Adoption steps, in order:

1. Collect supplier and product data (materials, origin, compliance documents).
2. Upload supporting evidence, test reports, certificates, supplier declarations.
3. Link identifiers at the model, batch, or item level depending on your risk profile.
4. Publish the passport page and generate the QR code.
5. Let consumers verify by scanning, no app required.

A platform like DPP Grid handles the operational grind: importing products from Shopify, CSV, or API, pulling in supplier documents, using AI to extract data points for human review, and publishing passport pages once someone on your team actually approves the content. AI suggestions never go live unverified. Under ESPR, textiles face passport requirements starting in 2027, so fashion brands piloting now aren't early, they're on schedule.

Pro Tip: Don't try to passport your whole catalog in one push. Pick your single highest-risk SKU, the one most copied or most reported, and prove the workflow there first.

Most counterfeiting fights get lost in fragmented product data before enforcement even starts. DPP Grid exists because that gap is fixable. It's a data infrastructure platform, not a legal guarantee, and it won't file your takedown notices for you.

Everything in this framework depends on having product data that's actually organized: supplier documents in one place, evidence version-controlled, identifiers linked at the right level. That's the piece most brands are missing, not the willingness to fight counterfeiters, but the infrastructure to prove authenticity fast when it matters.

!DDP Grid

DPP Grid imports your catalog from Shopify, CSV, or API, collects supplier evidence, and uses AI to extract product details, but a human on your team reviews and approves everything before it publishes. That review step matters: it's why a DPP built on the platform holds up as evidence, not just marketing copy. Fashion brands facing the 2027 textile passport deadline get a practical head start by starting with our clothing DPP guide, which walks through exactly the SKU-level pilot approach outlined above. If your supplier data is currently scattered across spreadsheets and email threads, our product data centralization guide shows how to consolidate it before building your first passport. Start a trial and publish your first product passport this week at DPP Grid.

• Commission Recommendation (EU) 2024/915 on measures to combat counterfeiting and enhance enforcement of intellectual property rights
• Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety (GPSR)
• AUTHENTIC view — EUIPO Observatory

This article is general information, not a substitute for advice from a qualified lawyer. Consult a qualified legal professional about your own circumstances before acting on anything here.

Rank your highest-risk SKUs by resale value and past infringement reports, then pilot serialized identifiers and a Digital Product Passport on just one or two of them before scaling.

DPPs don't stop counterfeiting alone, but they link a physical item to verified data that exposes fakes lacking a valid registration, and platforms like DPP Grid manage that data workflow for brands.

Involve customs once you have trademark recordals filed and evidence of goods crossing borders; IPEP's eAFA process is built for exactly this kind of cross-border seizure request.

A recall is triggered when counterfeit or defective goods pose a genuine safety risk, which brings GPSR's withdrawal and consumer-notification obligations into play rather than a standard marketplace notice.

Costs vary widely by catalog size, but a focused pilot on a few SKUs with basic monitoring and one serialization rollout is far cheaper than scaling full catalog coverage, so most brands start small and expand based on measured KPIs.