Sporting events = high rate of counterfeit (?)

Last week during the event 'Intellectual Property and Sport' that took place in Brazil, Francis Gurry the Director of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), informed the following: “international trade in counterfeits products reaches about US$ 200 billion per year.”

Therefore, in the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propiedade Industrial (INPI) we read the importance of combating crimes against intellectual property a key task for the realization of the forthcoming sporting events like the World Cup 2014 and the Olympics 2016. INPI’s president, Jorge Avila, said “respect for intellectual property is essential to the achievement of major sports events”. In this regards he observed that “intellectual property enables the sporting events to allow the return of the sponsors. It is essential to generate economic value to the sport events.”

In the same vein, Mr Gurry noted that “this is not a problem exclusive to Brazil” since all countries that hosted major events faced the issue of piracy. Does it mean that hosting sporting events are bound to have an increase in the rate of piracy?