{"id":99451,"date":"2018-07-25T05:30:01","date_gmt":"2018-07-25T09:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipwatchdog.com\/?p=99451"},"modified":"2018-08-24T13:06:09","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T17:06:09","slug":"inviting-danger-home-market-counterfeit-baby-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipwatchdog.com\/2018\/07\/25\/inviting-danger-home-market-counterfeit-baby-products\/id=99451\/","title":{"rendered":"Inviting Danger into the Home: Understanding the Market for Counterfeit Baby Products and How Both Parents and Brands Can Better Protect Children"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Screen shot taken from Amazon.com on July 18, 2018 to substantiate the statements made in the article.<\/p><\/div>\n

Parents have plenty to be worried about \u2013 rising tuition costs, ever-present social media, and the general dread that some harm may befall their child.\u00a0 But how many parents are unaware of the potential danger lurking in their child\u2019s formula, toys, strollers, and accessories?\u00a0 Counterfeit versions of popular children\u2019s products have introduced a new, often indistinguishable risk that parents unknowingly welcome into the nursery.<\/p>\n

Online retailers \u2013 Amazon, in particular \u2013 are often new parents\u2019 lifeline to the world of swaddles, pacifiers, diapers, and everything in between.\u00a0 Amazon specifically targets new parents and their near endless needs for participation in its Prime program<\/a>, offering that Amazon \u201ccan manage almost all your baby’s needs from literally one place.\u201d \u00a0New parents are big business for both online and brick-and-mortar retailers.\u00a0 According to a report<\/a> from Hyve, new parents spend approximately $6,200 on baby-related goods and services during the child\u2019s first year of life.\u00a0 Industry analysts project<\/a> the global baby products market to reach $121 billion by 2025.<\/p>\n

Last month, pNeo, the producer of the popular BabyShusher device, made the public aware of counterfeit versions of its white noise machines.\u00a0 According to pNeo, test buys from Amazon returned counterfeit BabyShushers with corroded batteries and protruding wires.\u00a0 BabyShushers are intended to be used in close proximity to sleeping infants. \u00a0BabyShusher has publicly complained about Amazon\u2019s lackadaisical response to its business and welfare concerns.<\/p>\n

Amazon certainly isn\u2019t the only marketplace where new parents can be duped into courting danger.\u00a0 The Baby Carrier Industry Alliance published a guide<\/a> on identifying counterfeit baby carriers offered on DHgate and eBay.\u00a0 The sites offered counterfeit versions of well-known and trusted brands, such as Ergo at significant discounts.<\/p>\n\n

Little ones are potentially at risk from a range of counterfeit products, including products that interact with children in the most intimate of ways.\u00a0 For example, Ezpz\u2019s popular Happy Mat, a silicone feeding mat, suffered from counterfeit versions flooding the market in Toronto.\u00a0 Genuine Happy Mats<\/a> are produced from 100% food-grade silicone that has been rigorously tested, approved by the FDA, and certified by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission. \u00a0The composition of the counterfeit Happy Mats almost certainly does not meet the same stringent requirements. Counterfeiters are able to offer products at much lower prices than the genuine goods because they use cheaper materials, do not invest in expensive quality assurance programs, or comply with government safety guidelines.\u00a0 For example, chemical analyses<\/a> of counterfeit children\u2019s toys in Europe found phalate levels exceeding eighteen times the legal limit.\u00a0 Phalates have been linked to increased risk of cancer, asthma, and fertility problems later in life if ingested. \u00a0These cheaper, counterfeit products offer short term benefits on price at the cost of increased long-term health risks.<\/p>\n

How should new parents avoid putting their young children in unnecessary harm?<\/p>\n

First, caregivers should be vigilant in purchasing directly from the brand, either through its website or through its authorized retailers.\u00a0 Most brands \u2013 including UPPABaby<\/a> and ErgoBaby<\/a> \u2013 provide prospective customers with online tools to identify an authorized retailer.\u00a0 Sourcing through the approved channels allows parents to be confident in the provenance of their purchases.<\/p>\n

Second, if shopping on an online marketplace, pay close attention to the listed price.\u00a0 It\u2019s tempting to seek out a bargain while faced with the mountain of costs associated with parenthood, but prices that are significantly outside of the manufacturer\u2019s suggested retail price should be viewed with suspicion.\u00a0 Furthermore, when products from U.S. brands are offered below the manufacturer\u2019s suggested retail price, and are located in foreign countries, exercise caution. \u00a0For example, at the time of publication, a leading U.S.-based swaddle blanket manufacturer\u2019s products were offered on Alibaba for $.88 per blanket, a 95% discount from the manufacturer\u2019s suggested retail price.<\/p>\n

Finally, note negative comments and feedback.\u00a0 Nearly all online marketplaces allow users to view the feedback accrued by sellers.\u00a0 This can be difficult to sift through, but the extra legwork outweighs the potential risk. On Amazon, shoppers should note that feedback is tied to the listing rather than the individual seller. It can be an exercise in futility to determine the source of a comment regarding counterfeit products, but the presence of counterfeit products on the ASIN should give parents immediate pause.<\/p>\n

The burden, however, is not just on the consumer. Brands should be pro-active in the defense of their intellectual property.\u00a0 Spending precious budget dollars on preventative measures is often a difficult sell, but the return on investment can be dramatic when a brand considers the economic and reputational harm from an insidious counterfeit problem.<\/p>\n

All brands should engage in some form of online monitoring to gain insight into its activity in e-commerce, particularly suspicious listings of its products.\u00a0 As pressure mounts on online marketplaces to act on this issue, sites such as Alibaba and DHgate have offered brands online platforms to report infringing listings.\u00a0 U.S.-based sites such as Amazon and eBay developed brand-focused tools to cut through the bureaucracy of reporting infringement.\u00a0 Amazon\u2019s Brand Registry and eBay\u2019s VeRO program are good first steps for brands to efficiently enforce their rights on two of America\u2019s most popular marketplaces.<\/p>\n

Brands should also leverage the resources of the U.S. Government to block products from entering the U.S. stream of commerce.\u00a0 U.S. Customs and Border Protection allows brands to record their trademarks in its Intellectual Property Rights system as a means of increasing the rate of seizing counterfeit products at the ports.\u00a0 With modest investments in training and intelligence sharing, brands can partner with Customs to stop counterfeit products from ever reaching their destinations.<\/p>\n

Finally, brands should turn the intelligence gathered from online monitoring, test buys, engagement with marketplaces, and Customs seizures into actionable data.\u00a0 Aggressively targeting resellers reduces the rate of recidivism, can result in the disgorgement of profits and the forfeiture of remaining counterfeit inventory, and can provide brands with intelligence that allows them to move up the chain to engage distributors and manufacturers.\u00a0 Even if brands are hesitant to spend on investigating manufacturers \u2013 especially abroad \u2013 diligent enforcement can send a message to the marketplace that carrying counterfeit versions of your brand\u2019s products just isn\u2019t worth it.<\/p>\n

Protecting children from the very real harm from counterfeit baby products is a common goal for both parents and brands.\u00a0 Although no parent will ever achieve the ultimate dream of protecting their child from harm out in the world, some diligence and active participation by baby product manufacturers can make the home an even safer place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How should new parents avoid putting their young children in unnecessary harm and avoid counterfeit baby products? Caregivers should purchase directly from the brand, either through its website or its authorized retailers.\u00a0 Most brands \u2013 including UPPABaby and ErgoBaby \u2013 provide customers with online tools to identify authorized retailers… Second, if shopping on an online marketplace, pay close attention to the listed price.\u00a0 It\u2019s tempting to seek out a bargain while faced with the mountain of costs associated with parenthood, but prices that are significantly outside of the manufacturer\u2019s suggested retail price should be viewed with suspicion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109353,"featured_media":99456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6998,228,3],"tags":[519,10686,30341,144,13325,30342,1958,30345,30343,5531,30340,12,2309,30344],"yst_prominent_words":[23859,30337,16048,22726,17393,30332,17394,30328,30336,30338,15265,30329,16974,30334,30335,30331,18626,30330,30333,30339],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipwatchdog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipwatchdog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipwatchdog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipwatchdog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipwatchdog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipwatchdog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipwatchdog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipwatchdog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipwatchdog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipwatchdog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99451"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipwatchdog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=99451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}