Starbucks' unending woes: Coffee giant now fends off fake product sellers

After Starbucks resolved the naming issue with SardarBuksh, following which it was ordered by the court to change its name to Sardarji-Bakhsh, the American beverage giant has a new problem in its hands. Now, it is trying to fend off companies selling fake Starbucks merchandise. The US company is fighting legal cases against a host of firms that are supplying fake Starbucks products to retailers.

Starbucks lawyers and court-appointed local commissioners recently raided establishments in Delhi's Sadar Bazar area and seized goods with the Starbucks logo and trademark. This is not the first time such an incident has taken place. The company also earlier this year informed custom officials about a consignment of fake Starbucks goods making its way from China, which was then seized.

"We have been made aware of instances of counterfeits and have taken up the matter with the relevant authorities," said a Tata Starbucks spokesperson. Tatas and Starbucks have an equal joint venture in India.

As mentioned in a report in The Economic Times, Starbucks said that it does not sell its merchandise to any third-party seller in the country. However, a quick search at e-commerce sites will throw up options of Starbucks merchandise.

This does not seem far from the truth as multiple reports in the past have said that a huge chunk of goods found online is fake. A recent survey by LocalCircles found that one out of 5 products sold on e-commerce sites are fakes. As such, companies suffer insurmountable losses every year.

US Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property (IP Commission) estimated that around $50-100 billion of counterfeit products were exported by China and Hong Kong in 2015.