Louis Vuitton dominates fake products seized in Korea

A French customs officer shows seized counterfeit handbags prior their destruction on May 29, 2012 at the postal sorting center of Chilly Mazarin, near Paris. French luxury brands from Chanel to Vuitton on May 30, 2012 launch a campaign with several European countries to fight back against the increasingly lucrative and damaging flood of counterfeit goods. The Comite Colbert, grouping 75 French luxury goods makers including Dior, Cartier and Remy Martin, is launching a poster campaign in French airports ahead of the summer to dissuade travellers from buying fakes. As home to many of the world's best known luxury brands, France is particularly exposed. Fake goods cost the economy 30,000 jobs and six billion euros in lost revenues every year, according to the Comite Colbert. Clothes, sunglasses, perfume, cosmetics, leather goods, half the 8.9 million counterfeit articles seized in France in 2011 were luxury goods, with Louis Vuitton products the most copied. AFP PHOTO ERIC PIERMONT (Photo credit should read ERIC PIERMONT/AFP/GettyImages)

South Korea’s Customs service has released an intellectual property infringement report detailing the most-seized counterfeit goods over the past four years.

According to the report, South Korean officials seized more fake Louis Vuitton products than any other between June 2014 and June this year, a trend that accelerated over the period.

Agents seized KRW183.1 billion (US$224 million) worth of LV-trademarked counterfeit goods, mostly originating from China. Almost a quarter of those goods were seized within the last six months alone.

Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Byung-won, who commissioned and released the report, said: “Making and distributing fake goods is a criminal act that violates intellectual property rights, and it is required to toughen crackdown on such illegalities.”

Other frequently counterfeited brands include Rolex watches, Cartier jewelry, Chanel garments and accessories, and Gucci products.