F1 drives out black market

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Formula One prides itself on authenticity. It's the world's premier motorsport series, where nothing but the very best is good enough.

Cars are built using the most expensive materials and the smallest defective part can cause an accident.

So it is not surprising that F1 replicas are much cherished by a loyal fanbase, eager to get their hands on a piece of high-speed history.

From team T-shirts and fleeces to steering wheels and wings, official F1 merchandise and the people buying it remain true to the values of the sport.

This, in part, has helped keep something of a lid on counterfeiters, rife in popular sports such as football.

"Your average die-hard F1 fan I've found has a very good understanding and awareness of the sport as a whole, which, unlike football, only has 10 teams," said James Wilson, who runs official F1 merchandise retailer, EnterF1.com.

"I think this helps curb the black market because as an F1 fan instantly I would be able to tell if something was an official product.

"People do stand out like sore thumbs at grands prix when you see fakes."

F1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone comes down hard on knock-off merchants on race weekends, with only officially licensed stands doing business inside a circuit's perimeter.

Teams themselves have their own stands selling merchandise at the circuits, which is a further guarantee of authenticity to fans.

But the problem of counterfeiting in F1 seems to be related to the success of the teams.

Ferrari and McLaren are the sport's big two teams and they suffer the effects of the black market more than those further down the grid.

A Williams spokesperson said: "Being copied is the highest form of flattery. The black market is not an issue for us like it used to be in the 1990s, when we had Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill as drivers.

"As we've slipped down the championship, it's not a massive problem for us anymore."

The teams' income is only supplemented by merchandise, it is not relied upon. In football, David Beckham's ability to sell replica shirts is part of his appeal to the clubs who have signed him, but the same cannot be said of Kimi Raikkonen.

Nonetheless, official merchandise is available online from each team's Web site, often managed by third parties.

Wilson explained that online shoppers are reassured by plastering the word 'official' on the key areas of his site.

"We've found people Google 'official' followed by what they are looking for, which gives them peace of mind when handing over money," he added.

But the internet boom opened up a new unscrupulous money-making sphere and unofficial merchandise can be found on sites such as eBay.

Jeremy Dickerson, partner at law firm Burges Salmon, said: "Many teams police the internet and markets to identify culprits selling bogus merchandise. They will also go through Trading Standards to stop the sale of counterfeit goods.

"F1 is very sharp on this and has no hesitation in suing those responsible, mainly in an attempt to make an example of them to the rest of the black market."

The authenticity factor is never more important than in memorabilia of the late three-time world champion Ayrton Senna, upon which an estimated $150 million is spent annually.

The Senna name is emblazoned on all manner of products such as T-shirts, model cars, watches, bicycles and motorbikes, and 10 years ago auction house Sotheby's sold a rare Senna helmet for more than $62,000.

Senna's legacy has been meticulously managed to ward off bootleggers but most F1 teams have not felt the need to go to such lengths to protect their brands.

"We don't have a proper internal structure devoted to this black market matter as it is not that huge," confirmed a Renault spokesperson.

However, F1's expansion into Asia -- where a third of the calendar will take place by 2010 -- means the black market there will grow, even if the demand will not reach the levels of football.

China, which joined the F1 calendar in 2004, is the foremost country in the world in terms of counterfeiting, according to the International Intellectual Property Alliance.

South Korea and India, two countries set to join the calendar, are also in the top 10 of worst offenders.

Already, the England-based Force India team has been accused by some of its fans in India of pricing them out of the market by setting the cost of merchandise prohibitively high.

Genuine F1 merchandise is expensive because exclusivity and authenticity are the sport's trademarks.

And there will always be those for whom trademarks are someone else's overpriced problem.