It is a pleasure to welcome you to the inaugural edition of Anti-counterfeiting - A Global Guide, a publication put together by the team behind the highly acclaimed World Trademark Review magazine.

Written by experts from some of the worlds leading firms, Anti-counterfeiting 2008 provides trademark professionals with a simple, easy-to-use digest of anti-counterfeiting laws, procedures and strategies in 47 key jurisdictions across the globe. This edition includes two regional special focus chapters, which examine trends in the European Union and Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, the guide features a directory of anti-counterfeiting service providers, further enhancing its value as an indispensable reference tool.

Although Anti-counterfeiting 2008 does not seek to provide specific legal advice and should not be read as such, the authors of each chapter raise a number of important points that IP rights owners and their advisers would do well to consider when forming a detailed international anti-counterfeiting strategy.

As with World Trademark Review magazine, Anti-counterfeiting 2008 has been written by trademark specialists, for trademark specialists. Only those firms and organizations with an unparalleled track record in the field of trademark law, and anti-counterfeiting in particular, were invited to contribute. I would like to thank all those who submitted chapters for their hard work and their commitment to this project.