Even countermeasure labels are fake! Surprise of "fake golf clubs"

Tokyo Customs announced in September the status of seizure of intellectual property-infringing goods from January to June this year. crossed the point. Among these counterfeit brand products, golf equipment, especially clubs, is becoming a problem year by year. In the golf industry, it is called a "counterfeit".

At the venue of the "Japan Golf Fair 2021" held in March this year, if you look at the booth of a golf partner, a major golf equipment sales company that also buys and sells second-hand goods, there is a corner "Beware of fake clubs". It was set up to warn the general public.

Recognizing the existence of counterfeit goods since around 2000

Since around 2000, the Japan Golf Goods Association (JGGA), which consists of companies involved in golf goods such as golf manufacturers, has been aware of the existence of counterfeit products.

According to Mr. Tsuyoshi Iizumi (Yonex), who is in charge of measures against counterfeit products in the manufacturing external affairs committee of the Goods Association, in May 2006, a Chinese student was caught selling counterfeit Mizuno products online. It is said that full-scale countermeasures have become necessary as "it is a serious problem because there is no guarantee of safety, not only in terms of performance and quality, but it also entails the risk of personal injury."

In December 2011, following the example of the Council of American Golf Manufacturers, which was also concerned about counterfeit products, we recommended to each manufacturer the "counterfeit countermeasure label" and attached it to club shafts. However, in 2014, counterfeit products with anti-counterfeiting labels were found in China. Therefore, in 2017, the Goods Association renewed the label.

Anti-counterfeit measures may seem like a cat-and-mouse game, but if countermeasures are not taken, the number of counterfeit products will increase. Mr. Iizumi said, "After switching to the new label, we have not yet received any damage information on the label."

“Nowadays we can do anything with 3D printers, and it doesn't take that much technology to make things look the same,” says Mr. Iizumi. The anti-counterfeiting label is the biggest clue, as the appearance of the product is indistinguishable from the genuine product.