OUR EXPERTS TESTIFY
#NTNFORREALBEARINGS

" The fight against counterfeiting is, of course, a long-term task, but one that is essential to protect not only our intangible assets but also our customers. "

The fight against counterfeiting involves both proactive and reactive actions to protect the company's intangible assets (patents, trademarks, trade names, domain names, etc.).

In particular, the Legal Department participates in the filing and renewal of trademarks throughout the world, which are the property of NTN-SNR ROULEMENTS. This proactivity also translates into awareness-raising actions with various customs authorities to enable them to effectively identify a counterfeit product.

The Legal Department also plays a role when counterfeiting is suspected in order to bring together the various players (internal experts, external advisors, the authorities concerned, etc.) and to initiate the necessary pre-litigation or litigation actions (registered letter, lawyer's intervention, legal action, etc.).

In this fight against counterfeiting, the Legal Department works in close collaboration with NTN-SNR ROULEMENTS' internal experts, our counterparts at NTN Corporation and with the support of an Intellectual Property consulting firm.

" The bearing is a key element in the functioning of a mechanical assembly, because it ensures the transmission of forces and movements.
The use of a counterfeit product can have considerable impacts on safety (risk to the consumer's life) and economic (damage to a production tool/ operating loss). "

The SAT is a service providing expertise for all types of products (automotive, industry, aeronautics) at all stages of the product life.    
The department works as a support for quality, engineering services, innovation and production sites.
Within the SAT department, here are our areas of expertise to fight against counterfeiting:

• Expertise to follow up on seizures of counterfeit products 
• Participation in communication campaigns, in particular to raise awareness among our distribution networks and our end customers

The SAT department is involved when a counterfeit is suspected in order to produce an expert report that will be transmitted to customs. When an expert report is required, the SAT teams are responsible for teaching people how to differentiate a counterfeit bearing from a genuine one.

" Today, counterfeiting is omnipresent when it comes to premium and valuable products. This is just as true in the luxury goods sector as it is in the bearings market, and here too, in the case of bearings, the consequences can be serious from a financial and human point of view. "

Within the quality department, we regularly receive requests from customers who want to be sure that the NTN or SNR products they refer to are authentic. 

Misleading price promises should alert them. Certain points are important to take into account: when a product is offered at a very aggressive price, up to 10 times less expensive than the original, available in large quantity this is a warning of counterfeiting risks. 

The consequences of counterfeiting can lead to a premature failure, which will cause an intervention after a few hours or more frequent and therefore more expensive, or the need for mechanical repair on a product used by a consumer (for example: on a vehicle or any consumer equipment). Moreover, counterfeiting can lead to damage to industrial facilities (steel mills, paper manufacturing plants, etc.), systems that also involve the safety of people. 

In the hunt for counterfeit products, NTN-SNR's Quality Department receives customer feedback or complaints about failures deemed "abnormal". 

Our mission is to assess the product, to ensure that it is not counterfeit. We support the sales teams to provide the best answers to customers and the legal team for all questions related to the product. 

It's a real team effort, and we call on our best experts to respond to a request and confirm a source. 

We also work in anticipation to bring counterfeit detection guides to the services that can detect it, like customs. Our Quality team is also in charge of product delivery and the realization of conformity certificates. 

But the best assurance is that our customers buy from approved distributors, and do not hesitate to ask us for confirmation in case of doubt: fakebearings@ntn-snr.fr

As for NTN brand products, the use of the AUTHENTI BEAR application is the first step to implement.