Takeaway points from the latest USTR Notorious Markets List

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released the findings of its 2024 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy (often referred to as the “Notorious Markets List”). 

This year, the report names 38 online marketplaces and 33 physical markets that reportedly engage in or facilitate counterfeiting or piracy. 

Having read the report, here are a few takeaway points that I found interesting: 

Counterfeit medicines 

The “Issue Focus” of the 2024 report is the growing threat posed by counterfeit medicines sold by illicit online pharmacies. Statistics in the report highlight the scale of the problem - for example, of around 35,000 online pharmacies worldwide, it is estimated that around 96% of these operate in violation of the law. This echoes warnings from bodies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) about the proliferation of online pharmacies selling either counterfeit or substandard medical products in recent years, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Continued impact of social media 

The report acknowledges the impact of social media on consumers' attitudes towards, and tendencies to purchase, counterfeit goods including the impact of influencers who review and promote fake products. This topic is also discussed in Marks & Clerk's recent ebook which provides advice on developing an effective anti-counterfeiting strategy. 

Successes in 2024 

There are a number of enforcement activities discussed in the report that took place in 2024, including collaborative efforts in Vietnam between Hanoi Police and various US organisations (including Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of Justice) to dismantle the world's largest piracy ring linked to the website Fmovies. Associated piracy websites (which have since been shut down) had over 6.7 billion visits between January 2023 and June 2024. 

American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) submissions

In October 2024, the AAFA submitted comments to the USTR in relation to action against illicit trade and the Association nominated several platforms that they would like to see included in the Notorious Markets List. Of the platforms recommended, both DHgate and Shopee have been included again in this year's list; however, the USTR did not take the AAFA's recommendation to include all Meta platforms on the list (though they did acknowledge counterfeiting problems on social media, as discussed above).