CODY, Wyo. -(Ammoland.com)- The American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI), a nonprofit trade association representing the entire knife community, continues to address the problems of counterfeit knives for consumers and the industry.
Counterfeit products plague every industry and threaten U.S. businesses’ ability to compete and exist.
Inferior products can harm individuals and the affected brand and leave consumers without any type of warranty or available servicing.
“It is a well-known fact that counterfeiting costs U.S. businesses approximately ten percent of their revenue every year,” said Rod Bremer, chair of the Anti-Counterfeiting Committee of AKTI, and Chairman and Founder of CRKT. He added, “We conservatively estimate that counterfeit products cost the sporting knife and tool industry around $95 million annually, based on the latest AKTI State of the Industry report.”
Counterfeits not only mean lost revenue and jobs for U.S. companies, but they also create increased costs dealing with increased customer service issues, legal fees, monitoring of counterfeiters, and erosion of the image of their company and brand.
The efforts of the American Knife & Tool Institute to proactively combat the impact counterfeit products includes consumer education to raise the awareness of counterfeit products.
“Consumers need to Be Safe, Not Sorry,” noted Jan Billeb, AKTI Executive Director. “An inferior knife is a dangerous knife. No matter how close something looks like the real thing, it’s true that if the price is too good to be true, it probably is not worth the price!”
“We are working on resources to help the industry,” explained Bremer. “Businesses need to know where and how to register their brand and trademarks and they need to have a plan to monitor counterfeits and take action against known counterfeiters.”
For more information, visit their website.
About AKTI:
The American Knife & Tool Institute is the non-profit advocacy organization for the knife industry and all knife owners. Its mission is to ensure that Americans will always be able to make, buy, sell, own, carry and use knives and edged tools. Formed in 1998, AKTI is dedicated to educating, promoting and providing relevant and accurate information about knives and edged tools as important tools in daily American life.
For more information, visit their website.
Another trade issue that should be addressed. Chinese companies, and others, have been dumping counterfeit garbage on the American marketplace for decades. Start holding their shipments up until each and every box of goods is inspected until they get the message.