Dubai Customs officials seize counterfeit items at a site in Dubai.

Dubai Customs destroyed 48,000 counterfeit items as part of its efforts to combat piracy and support sustainable development.

The destruction of the items was followed by a recycling process, which helps brand owners get rid of copied products without harming the environment.

The items included 42,184 Apple products, valued at Dhs861,000. The activity took place in the presence of a delegation from the American Consulate, Malik Hanouf, CEO of Brand Owners’ Protection Group; Soud Al Aqroubi, Director of International Relations at Federal Customs Authority; Yousef Ozair Mubarak, Director of IPR Department at Dubai Customs; Mohammed Bin Nasser, Manager of IP Dispute Section, and Sara Al Suwaidi, Manager of External Relations Section at Dubai Customs.

As a procedure, trademark owners are informed once the fake items are seized.

The IPR Department at Dubai Customs leads the way in seizing counterfeit goods and protecting brands from IP violations.

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In 2019, there were 337 IP dispute cases, with a market value of Dhs40.2 million, out of which 274 were genuine products valued at Dhs33.4 million and 53 were fake ones, valued at Dhs10.8 million.

Last year, 637,000 items for 190 trademarks were recycled, and the dispute cases concerning genuine products comprised 84 per cent of the total.

“Dubai Customs fights counterfeiting and piracy to protect the rights of brand owners and help them sustain their business through the exchange of expertise and cooperation with other partners and countries. We work towards a vision of becoming the leading Customs organisation in the world supporting legitimate trade through full compliance with international legislation that protects brand owners from counterfeiting,” said Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director-General of Dubai Customs.

Dubai Customs regularly organises awareness activities to educate the public, especially the younger generation, on the importance of the rights of intellectual property.

Earlier, statistics released by Dubai Customs showed that Dubai Customs’ Passenger Operations Department has dealt with 20.44 million passengers’ items of baggage on board 88,000 flights arriving at Terminal 3, Dubai International Airport in 2019.