According To Hp, Grey Market Toner Is Ran By A "Syndicate"

According To Hp, Grey Market Toner Is Ran By A "Syndicate"
Counterfeiting has an annual global impact of $3 billion on the printing and imaging technologies industry, with 10% of world trade made up of counterfeit, pirated or grey-market products.

This is according to a Hewlett-Packard study, which estimates that the yearly global economic and social impact of counterfeiting and piracy is $775 billion – expected to reach $1.7 trillion by 2015.

"These syndicates are getting so advanced that it's getting harder to differentiate between the fake and the real," explains printing category manager at HP SA, Nosipho Simelane. "Counterfeiting used to be the domain of skilled criminals with expensive engraving and printing equipment. Not so today, thanks to advances in computer and printing technologies that have dramatically reduced the cost and difficulty of reproducing realistic-looking fakes."

Taking a precautionary step, HP's imaging and printing business made the effort to integrate anti-counterfeiting measures into devices to curtail the problem, according to Simelane.

"These include the use of any quick-response code reader on smartphones or mobile devices to scan the code on the product's package seal and instantly receive verification of the authenticity of the product," she states. "We will also be looking at sophisticated packaging and security labels to enable partners and customers to spot suspicious products and make it more difficult for counterfeiters to manufacture fakes."

Simelane concludes that the company's anti-counterfeit programme is also in place to protect HP's partners and customers by making it difficult to produce, distribute and sell counterfeits.