Otterbox Conterfeits

At CES this year I noticed a distinct trend, several companies, big and small, were clearly copying the successful Otterbox cases for Phablets. Here’s what Otterbox is doing about it:

A multi-billion dollar industry, counterfeiting of consumer goods continues to threaten brands around the globe. From inconspicuous individuals to organized operations, premeditated retail crime costs U.S. businesses $200 billion to $250 billion annually.* Fort Collins, Colo.-based OtterBox® is giving a growing focus to the fight against the production and circulation of counterfeit cases.

Known as the makers of the No. 1-selling smartphone case in America**, the OtterBox brand is a premium symbol for mobile tech protection. Counterfeiters have taken note of OtterBox’s position as an industry leader and are constantly trying to capitalize on the company’s success by producing fake OtterBox products.

“Counterfeiting has become a huge problem for OtterBox,” said Rachael Lamkin, associate general counsel for OtterBox. “We are serious about protecting the OtterBox portfolio of products and the brand as a whole. That means a focus on the fight against counterfeit cases and efforts to educate the public about the realities of counterfeiting.”

Internal investigations and collaboration with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have led to judgments and settlements totaling nearly $11 million in favor of OtterBox in 2012 and helped confiscate more than 118,000 counterfeit items.