The Premier League, its clubs, and various law enforcement authorities will come together at the London Stadium this week for the ninth annual "Football Against Fakes" conference.
The event provides a platform for guests in attendance to hear from various industry-leading experts about the ongoing challenges around brand protection, while also furthering the opportunity for knowledge and best-practice sharing between organisations represented at the conference.
Delegates will hear from international representatives from Homeland Security Investigations and Dutch Customs, while the City of London Police, and the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) will provide a more localised perspective in this area.
This year’s event will also include a panel discussion on how the enforcement industry can work collaboratively to tackle the issue of football fakes with expert input from West Ham United, Be The Star Posters, The Real Deal, and the Intellectual Property Office.
£28m of counterfeit items seized
The Premier League’s Anti-Counterfeiting Programme targets both the online and offline sale and distribution of fake products around the world. Last season was record-breaking for the initiative with more than 400,000 counterfeit items at a value of £28million seized.
Meanwhile, online action to prevent counterfeit goods reaching fans continues and across the past season the Premier League removed more than 180,000 listings worth over £4 million – numbers which do not include seizures carried out by individual club and kit manufacturers as well.
Together with clubs, partners, and law enforcement, the Premier League remains committed to reducing the sale and distribution of counterfeit products around the world and continues to make huge strides in this area.
