Clothing, shoes, toys and electronics lead counterfeited items

By Bufete Mejía & Asociados

The head of the General Directorate of Intellectual Property (Digepih) of Honduras, Camilo Bendeck, stated that clothing, shoes, toys and electronic devices are among the most counterfeited products in the country.

“Foreign counterfeiters make an analysis of which international brands consumers purchase the most, and then they produce and export counterfeited products of those world-known brands,” Bendeck said to Hondudiario. While massively produced in China, counterfeited items enter Honduras from Mexico and Guatemala.

Although trademark protection and counterfeiting still represent a big challenge for IP authorities and institutions, in the last years Honduras has managed to comply with international agreements and steadily improve its protection tools.

The protection of intellectual property rights is under the jurisdiction of the Honduran Property Institute, which it DIGEPIH division handles the registration of patents, trademarks, and copyrights, as well as any complaints regarding their infringement.

Honduras IP legislation is largely in compliance with the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and fully compliant with CAFTA-DR. The CAFTA-DR obligations provide stronger deterrence to piracy and counterfeiting by criminalizing end-user piracy and requiring Honduras to authorize the seizure, forfeiture, and destruction of counterfeit and pirated goods and the equipment used to produce them.

Honduras does not appear on the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Special 301 Watch List for countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on IP protection. In 2016, Honduras reactivated the Inter-Institutional Commission for Combating Piracy in Honduras, a council comprised of all anti-piracy stakeholders aimed at facilitating interagency communication and establishing processes of monitoring to identify trends and control piracy.