How to

How to deal with merch fakes and counterfeits

A working guide for brand-protection, legal and procurement teams in Mexico on detecting, documenting and responding to counterfeit merchandise: how to build a paper trail, what to file with IMPI and customs, and how to close the supply gap that lets fakes enter the market in the first place.

The 7-step response flow Useful tools

Why counterfeits are a supply problem first and a legal problem second

Counterfeit merch is not just a legal nuisance. It is a supply problem wearing a legal mask. When unauthorized operators copy a brand's polo, tote or tumbler and sell it at a price the authorized supply cannot match, three things happen at once: revenue migrates out of the legitimate channel, brand equity erodes in the eyes of the buyer who gets the fake, and the authorized program is undermined because the fake carries the same mark at a fraction of the cost.

In Mexico, the legal framework is robust on paper and uneven in practice. The Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial (IMPI) administers trademark registration and can issue administrative sanctions; the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT) controls customs and can seize shipments; the Fiscalía General de la República can pursue criminal cases. The gap is almost always at the documentation layer: the brand cannot prove the fake is a fake because the brand never wrote down what the real one looks like at the SKU level.

The scope below targets a corporate merch program: polo shirts, hoodies, tees, caps, totes, notebooks, tumblers, pens, USB drives, lanyards, pins, stickers. For each SKU, the response is the same: detect, document, report, and close the supply gap. The flow scales from a 100-unit giveaway to a 100,000-unit national rollout.

What this guide is not: it is not a substitute for trademark counsel. It is the operational workflow that makes trademark counsel effective when you call them.

The 7-step response flow

  1. Document the authentic SKU. Photograph the real product under D50 (5,000 K) light from six angles, weigh it, measure it, and record the substrate (180 g/m² vs 200 g/m² on tees, 18/8 vs 18/0 stainless on tumblers). File the documentation in a tamper-evident folder with date, batch and PO reference. Without this baseline, IMPI cannot compare the fake to the real.
  2. Register the brand assets with IMPI. Confirm the trademark registration is current for the categories where the merch is sold (Class 25 for apparel, Class 18 for bags, Class 21 for tumblers, Class 16 for notebooks, Class 9 for USB drives). Renewal is every 10 years; an expired registration is no registration.
  3. List authorized suppliers and channels. One internal register per brand mark, with the authorized suppliers, the maximum production capacity per quarter and the PO traceability code. A supplier not on the register is, by definition, not authorized.
  4. Detect the fake through the field. Sales reps, distributors, event staff and customer service are the early-warning system. Train them to photograph suspected fakes, capture the seller's details and forward both to brand protection. Reward the report; do not punish the messenger.
  5. Document the fake with the same discipline. Photograph under the same D50 light, from the same six angles, weigh, measure, compare side by side with the documented authentic. Capture the receipt, the seller's card and the marketplace URL if applicable. A documented fake is enforceable; an undocumented suspicion is gossip.
  6. Report through the right channel. Customs seizure: file with SAT via the customs broker with the documented comparison and the trademark registration. Marketplace takedown: file through the platform's brand-protection portal with the same documentation. Administrative sanction: file with IMPI for unauthorized use in trade. Criminal case: file with the Fiscalía only when the volume or the pattern justifies it.
  7. Close the supply gap. Every fake came from somewhere. Trace the unauthorized operator through customs records, marketplace seller history and the authorized supplier's own customer list. If an authorized supplier is leaking to the unauthorized channel, the response is contract termination and a public statement, not a quiet email.

Common pitfalls that quietly extend the problem

The first pitfall is documenting the authentic only after a fake appears. By then, the comparison is reactive and IMPI has to reconstruct what the real one looked like. Document first, defend second.

The second pitfall is registering the trademark only in the home country class. A trademark registered for software (Class 9) does not cover apparel (Class 25). Check the class coverage for every SKU you produce.

The third pitfall is treating the marketplace seller as the source. The seller is usually the last link; the supplier is upstream. Pulling the seller without pulling the supplier changes nothing; the next seller appears within a week.

The fourth pitfall is filing the IMPI complaint without a documented comparison. IMPI returns the file because it lacks the evidence. The documented comparison is the spine of the case; build it before filing.

The fifth pitfall is going public with the fake before the legal channels have acted. A public accusation without a resolved IMPI or SAT file is read as marketing, not as enforcement. Run the channels first, then communicate.

Tools, templates and references

Authentic SKU file: a tamper-evident folder per SKU with D50-lit photographs from six angles, weight, dimensions, substrate spec, Pantone codes and PO reference. Update the file once a year; out-of-date documentation is not documentation.

Trademark register: a spreadsheet with brand mark, registration number, IMPI class coverage, renewal date and the SKU categories covered. Renew six months before expiry, not the week before.

Authorized supplier list: an internal register per brand mark with supplier name, RFC, authorized SKUs, quarterly capacity and PO traceability code. A supplier not on the list is not authorized.

Field reporting form: a single A4 page for sales reps and event staff with date, location, suspected SKU, seller details, photograph checklist and forwarding email. Keep it short; long forms get ignored.

Legal references: Ley de la Propiedad Industrial (Mexico), IMPI administrative procedure guide, SAT customs seizure procedure, USMCA or T-MEC chapter on intellectual property enforcement, REACH SVHC for products crossing to Europe, and the brand's own trademark counsel for case-specific guidance.