Abstract

The caselet discusses the problems that companies across the world face because of counterfeit products flooding the market. It focuses on how the pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, combated counterfeiting and the control measures it took. The caselet describes how the Internet is used as a channel for selling counterfeit drugs.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Problems faced by companies across the globe due to counterfeit products
• How Pfizer combated counterfeiting of its products
• and How Pfizer and Microsoft collaborated in investigations into illegal websites that marketed counterfeit versions of Pfizer’s products.

Keywords

Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer), counterfeit, intellectual property laws, distribution system, prescription, Viagra, Liptor, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), IT industry, Microsoft, radio frequency identification (RFID), Packaging, advertising, tablets, Internet, websites