HP Middle-East Report Large Seizures of Counterfeit Printing Supplies

HP Middle-East today announced record seizures of counterfeit printing supplies by regional authorities, which demonstrated the “Buy Genuine HP” anti counterfeit campaign is gaining ground. Counterfeiting in printing supplies is estimated to be a multi-billion dollar trade worldwide, with organized crime syndicates often behind the illegal manufacture, distribution and sale of printer cartridges.

“HP Middle East is committed to protecting its customers and ensuring they receive the quality experience they’re expecting,” said Mr. Amin Mortazavi, general manager, Imaging and Printing Group, HP Middle East. “We work closely with Government agencies in the region to help identify sources of counterfeit printing supplies, and this cooperation is resulting in increased numbers of illegal products being seized.”

Printing Integrity:

HP’s collaboration with government and law-enforcement officials recently led to new major blows to counterfeiting of printing supplies for HP printers in this region.In total, local authorities seized more than one million pieces of counterfeit printing supplies and components.

Among these successes is a series of raids in the U.A.E. that enabled the largest single confiscation of such supplies in the Middle East – more than 700,000 items -since HP established its Anti-counterfeiting programme in the region in December 2006.

In Saudi Arabia, local authorities, supported by HP, conducted multiple raids that produced more than 300,000 items, the largest local seizure of HP-targeted counterfeit printing supplies within the last year. In the region covering Europe, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Africa, from the end of 2008 through September 2010, HP has helped authorities seize around 5.1 million finished counterfeits and components. In HP’s fiscal year 2009 alone, the number of pieces of counterfeits seized represented more than twice the amount of items confiscated in the previous year.