The word "counterfeits" is correct and usable in written English
You can use it when referring to objects or currency that are imitations or forgeries and are made with the purpose of being sold or passed off as genuine. For example, "The police discovered a large number of counterfeits at the warehouse, including counterfeit money and fake designer handbags."
Increasingly run by organised-crime syndicates, these use many of the same routes that have been established for trade in narcotics.China is by no means the only big exporter of counterfeits.
In China, counterfeiters can still get away with a $1,000 fine, which even there provides little deterrence.In Europe, the European Commission is working on new regulations to beef up customs action against counterfeits.
Other features, however, will make copying far more difficult than it was: the new bill has enhanced security devices including a watermark, security thread and special inks.Thomas Ferguson, director of the Treasury's bureau of engraving and printing, says that keeping counterfeits at bay has as much to do with strict law enforcement and public co-operation as it does with high technology.
The International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC), a lobby group, says the true figure is actually closer to $600 billion, because the OECD's estimate does not include online piracy or counterfeits that are sold in the same country as they are made.
You could almost say that counterfeits remain Silk Street's trademark, despite the market's efforts to stamp them out.
But such a system, even if applicable to cigar making in Cuba, would not directly address the threat of deliberate counterfeits.
To confuse things, some poorly made counterfeits are made illegally in Cuba itself and sold to tourists (many of whom have their dud purchases taken away by customs police at the airport).The people at Habanos are aware of the growing risk to the prestige of Cuban cigars.
"Consumers are looking for the real thing, and they are increasingly willing and able to afford it," say the authors.Cash-strapped youngsters still love counterfeits, says Chen Junsong of the China Europe International Business School.
Banknotes containing it would produce distinctive colours when stretched, unlike counterfeits made from other materials.To use the film to detect food spoilage, Dr Baumberg proposes adding a sprinkle of carbon particles even smaller than the polystyrene spheres.
And they claim that counterfeits occasionally push brand-holders into innovating in their customers' interests.
For currency alone, millions of dollars in counterfeit banknotes make their way into circulation each year, and 40% of the counterfeits seized this year were digitally produced, compared with 1% a decade ago.In ancient times, counterfeiting was a hanging offence.
