In Liepāja, on August 5, visitors to the 2023 festival had the opportunity to learn about the negative impact of counterfeiting on various industry sectors, as well as learn about things that are unique only to Liepaja. Such an opportunity was possible thanks to the stand created by the city of Liepāja in cooperation with the Patent Office in the frames of the European Network of Authenticities project.
The stand where each of the more than 40,000 festival visitors could learn about the harmful effects of counterfeiting on the environment, the economy and health, as well as find out what makes Liepāja unique and get to know about its registered trademark, marking Liepaja as the European Capital of Culture 2027, was placed in the park at the entrance to the festival area.
Families with children showed great interest in the stand. While kids enthusiastically tried to determine the difference between the white and fine sand of the Liepāja beach and the ordinary one, rough and unpleasant for the feet, and tried to feel the difference between the wind produced by the fan and the real wind of Liepāja, adults participated in a conversation with the representatives of the Patent Office, expressing their gratitude for bringing up the topic of counterfeiting. The visitors agreed that such stands with information on the negative effects of counterfeits are rare, but they are a very valuable source of information. The guests from Lithuania took special interest in the differences between fakes and original goods.
The fact that the prevention of the spread of fakes is a very urgent issue is also evidenced by the shipment from China with more than 40,000 fake toys discovered recently by the Customs Administration of the State Revenue Service. As a result of the control measures carried out by the customs officers of the Freeport of Riga, goods with counterfeited well-known trademarks were seized, including UNO, TWISTER, MONOPOLY board games, LEGO City and Police Station playsets, Hot Wheels, Transformers, and Rubik's Cube toys.
In the first seven months of 2023, a total of 10,121counterfeit items were detected in cargo and mail consignments in 141 cases.
At the beginning of this year, the Municipality of Liepāja signed a memorandum of understanding with the Patent Office on cooperation in The European Network of Authenticities project, involving joint activities of the Municipality and the Patent Office with the aim of raising awareness of Liepāja citizens about the protection of intellectual property, educating people in forming daily habits of buying authentic products, as well as promoting Liepāja as a city that recognizes authentic products and does everything necessary to fight against counterfeits and their distribution.
The city of Liepāja joined the network of authentic cities with the slogan "Authentic is eternal", and Liepaja’s municipality in the only one in Latvia that has joined this project, advocating for original, authentic products and the protection of intellectual property rights.
The main goal of the project is to promote awareness of the importance of original design, authentic products, and services through various public activities.