Some licensors find it difficult to regulate the quality of their products manufactured under license. It is not always made clear to consumers where exactly a particular good originated, and a poor quality licensed product may damage the reputation of the original licensor. However, this is not considered a form of consumer fraud unless the product is unlicensed or
counterfeit.{{cite web|title=Counterfeit products|author=|url=https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/tocta/8.Counterfeit_products.pdf|location=New York Unlicensed production is the utilization of foreign manufacturing technology without a license, achieved through
industrial espionage or
reverse engineering. Products in high demand on the international market can be reproduced, based on the same or similar design, and branded in ways to make them indistinguishable from the original. When copied and reproduced without a license, certain items are sometimes recopied in a similar manner by a third party. The manufacturers responsible may also grant legitimately registered sub-licenses for their unlicensed products, profiting at the expense of the real intellectual property owner. The quality of unlicensed goods varies greatly; the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has noted that while licensing companies often provide quality control measures, and there is some incentive for licensees to comply or risk legal action and the ensuing damage to their own profit, manufacturers who engage in unlicensed production are under no such obligations. Another method of circumventing the need for a license involves a manufacturer making slight modifications in the design or function of an existing product, before reproducing it. The manufacturer could then argue that the resulting product is not an unlicensed copy, but a new product not subject to license. Also need to be noted that once the terms of the patent for the particular technology or invention has expired, any manufacturer could legally reverse-engineer and reproduce said technology without needing to negotiate license agreements with former patent holder. However, even after patent terms have lapsed some manufacturers do opt for licensed production, since such agreements also confer transfer of full manufacturing plans and expertise which may prove to be cheaper than acquiring those via reverse engineering. == Examples ==