MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

I falsify, you falsify, we all falsify?

European Union business organizations claimed Thursday Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay were among the countries most involved in falsifying trade marks and manufacturing falsified products.

According to a European Commission survey among leading EU companies, China is top of the list, followed by Russia, Ukraine, Chile and Turkey. The survey also showed that Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay are some of the countries with which the EU would like to sign trade agreements to prevent the spread of falsified goods.

The report revealed that two thirds of all falsified goods confiscated in the EU borders originate in China.

"The EU is prepared to help third countries improve measures to counter the falsification industry, but it will not accept systematic big scale violations of the EU industry rights", warned the Commission.

The EU pharmaceutical industry looses over a billion Euros annually in sales because of Chinese product falsifications and another 100 million Euros in large scale abuse of patents, according to the EU report.

The EU pharmaceutical industry argues that falsifications and Chinese copies gobble 5% of global income, with 20 to 30% of pharmaceutical products sold in China false.

The software industry estimates that 90% of its products are routinely falsified with a loss in business programs estimated in 3.5 billion US dollars, and another 450 million US dollars in interactive software.