Whether it is toy kits, trendy T-shirts, or wine glasses – no product is safe from audacious counterfeiting. The presentation of the Plagiarius awards, which took place for the 27th time in a row at the end of January, emphasizes this fact again. This year, in addition to three main prizes and four equivalent awards, two special prizes were awarded for the first time.

A counterfeit of the ‘DENK’ART’ wine glass series from Austrian manufacturer ZALTO was awarded the first prize. An imitation of the ‘LEGO Creator VW Beetle,’ which looks very similar to the original toy kit, won the second prize. Third place also went to a toy product – a copy of the ‘STANDARD 32’ marble game from the Swiss company CUBORO.

There was a special prize for various counterfeits of the reusable cutlery set from German manufacturer koziol. Unlike the original, the counterfeits are neither robust nor recyclable or ‘Made in Germany.’ They are being sold at ridiculously low prices via online platforms such as Shein, Temu, or Alibaba. Another special prize was awarded to an imitation of a PUMA T-shirt apparently meant to be a parody, which still damaged the brand’s image. In this case, referring to ‘The Lion King,’ the wild cat in both the logo and the name has been changed to ‘PUMBA.’

All prize winners can be found on the Plagiarius website.

Image: Aktion Plagiarius e.V.