Constant focus by UFI Filters to combat counterfeit spare parts. The Group – a leader in filtration and thermal management – has always been determined to protect its products by registering its brands and patents on an international scale. UFI is in the forefront of efforts to combat trade in counterfeit products through traditional outlet channels as well as the internet, in collaboration with companies such as CONVEY, an Italian services outfit active in the fight against online counterfeiting, and ANFIA (National Automotive Industry Association). Partnership with CONVEY was launched four years ago and, thanks to preliminary analysis, identified numerous counterfeit products listed on Chinese platforms, prompting the need for stronger action to protect UFI and SOFIMA brands and the group’s patented technologies.

Inasmuch, UFI teamed up with the project developed by ANFIA to improve awareness in the entire sector of internet business intelligence activities in the fight against online counterfeits. These intelligence strategies ensure constant results, with the closure over the last eighteen months alone of more than 5,000 illicit listings of counterfeit products violating the intellectual property rights of UFI and SOFIMA brands, thereby blocking potentially extremely significant turnover from the illegal goods, which may well have found their way on to the spare parts market with serious economic repercussions for the sector and, above all, negative consequences for final consumers and vehicle safety.