Defining an effective and comprehensive set of protective actions to defend the integrity and reputation of a brand is today, more than ever, a complex challenge, especially when the distribution of products takes on a global dimension. Having an international presence entails a series of additional challenges: from dealing with multiple different legal systems to the need to register and protect one's intellectual property rights with multiple IP offices. At the same time, there is a growing need to monitor an ever larger number of markets, both physical and digital, in a thorough way, each with its own dynamics and specific issues.
A very useful and effective tool for monitoring and anti-counterfeiting activities is certainly the “Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy”, also known as the “Notorious Markets List” (NML)[1]. This report, published annually since 2006 by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), offers an in-depth overview of the international protection of intellectual property rights.
The most recent edition, published in the first quarter of 2025 and referring to the year 2024, is built mainly around three priority themes: the steady and continuous growth of e-commerce as a channel for distributing counterfeit products and pirated content; the emergence of advanced technologies (such as generative AI) that have made the processes of identifying and countering counterfeiting even more complex; and, finally, the virtuous strategies and best practices developed globally by governments and marketplaces to combat the phenomenon. The report then presents the by now customary detailed list of the most critical physical and online markets identified worldwide, focusing on those where intervention is most urgent in the immediate term.
THE PICTURE EMERGING FROM THE 2025 REPORT
The 2025 Notorious Markets List clearly reiterates what has emerged in recent years: the exponential growth of e-commerce has made it increasingly easy for counterfeiters and pirates to extend their influence globally. The anonymity and speed offered by online marketplaces continue to pose, despite the numerous initiatives undertaken, considerable challenges for investigation and enforcement activities, both for the authorities and for the companies that own the brands and rights. Moreover, the proliferation of advanced technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies and above all artificial intelligence-based tools is making the strategies adopted by criminal organizations even more sophisticated, enabling them to create more convincing imitations, evade automated marketplace controls and facilitate anonymous, hard-to-trace transactions.
Despite the difficult nature of these challenges, the NML 2025 also highlights important progress. Thanks to the continuous development of advanced anti-counterfeiting technology solutions and to the joint efforts of marketplaces, authorities and companies themselves, significant successes in countering these phenomena have been recorded in recent years. In the United States, China, Brazil and several European countries, an extensive series of coordinated actions and international police operations were carried out between 2023 and 2024, leading to hundreds of arrests, the shutdown of illegal platforms, and the seizure of millions of counterfeit goods worth billions of dollars in total.
PHYSICAL AND ONLINE MARKETS
In the latest published edition too, the NML continues to flag a list of the main counterfeiting hubs worldwide: these include both historically known physical markets and globally widespread digital platforms. Among the continents most affected are Asia and Latin America. Europe is not immune to the phenomenon, with some critical situations still persisting in various markets, especially online.
The report explicitly cites some examples of markets known for years but still relevant, such as the peer-to-peer platform ThePirateBay, and more recent marketplaces (fast-growing but hard to monitor), including some Asian apps and social-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, Tokopedia and Pinduoduo, which show a high potential risk of counterfeiting and brand misuse and impersonation. In addition, well-established and well-known platforms such as Amazon and AliExpress are also continuously monitored to curb new methods of circumventing controls, underlining the crucial importance of constructive collaboration with these digital players.
China is confirmed as one of the main nodes for both the production and the distribution of counterfeit products. According to the 2025 report, a good part of the shipments intercepted, for example, by US customs authorities in the 2023-2024 period were of Chinese origin. Among the physical hubs cited, places such as the “Xinyang Clothing & Gifts Plaza” in Shanghai and the “Huaqiangbei Electronics Malls” in Shenzhen still emerge. On the online marketplace side, popular platforms such as Taobao, DHgate, Weidian and new, increasingly popular “hybrid” marketplaces such as Temu remain under constant observation.
Tools such as the Notorious Markets List are therefore extremely useful resources for defining anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy strategies, identifying the main existing threats on global markets for each brand. However, in the face of increasingly complex, dynamic and advanced phenomena, the real effectiveness of brand protection activities can only be ensured through the contribution of specialized teams and dedicated technologies.
Do you want to know whether your company is currently exposed to online counterfeiting and piracy threats? You can request a free investigation by filling in the form, or by writing to info@argobs.com.
[1] https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2025/january/ustr-releases-2024-review-notorious-markets-counterfeiting-and-piracy