PR: American Knife & Tool Institute addresses counterfeit knives

The American Knife & Tool Institute continues to address the problems of counterfeit knives for consumers and the industry. Counterfeit products plague every industry and threaten US 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 US businesses approximately 10 per cent 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 $95m annually, based on the latest AKTI State of the Industry report."

Counterfeits not only mean lost revenue and jobs for US 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."

Members should contact the Executive Director for resources available regarding internet counterfeits and discounts with monitoring services.