Counterfeiting and piracy could cost the global economy up to US$4.2 trillion by 2022, while putting 5.4 million legitimate jobs at risk, according to a report commissioned by the International Trademark Association (INTA) and the International Chamber of Commerce 's Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (ICC BASCAP).

The report, titled The Economic Impacts of Counterfeiting and Piracy, was launched this week in Hong Kong during INTA's 2017 Anticounterfeiting Conference.

Research firm Frontier Economics, which conducted the research, estimated that the global value of counterfeit and pirated goods was between US$923 billion and 1.13 trillion in 2013 - roughly the size of Mexico's economy. The size of this underground economy of fakes could hit US$2.81 trillion by 2022.

In addition, Frontier estimated that the wider economic and social costs from displaced legitimate economic activities, reduced foreign investment, fiscal losses and criminal enforcement lied between US$737 and 898 billion, and is predicted to top US$1.9 trillion by 2022.

The report also indicates significant effects on the job market. Frontier estimated that around 2.3 million legitimate job opportunities were lost globally in 2013 due to counterfeiting and piracy, and the figure could double by 2022.

The firm further suggests that a percentage point reduction would be worth US$30 to 54 billion in economic growth for the 35 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

"This new study shows that the magnitude of counterfeiting and piracy is huge, and growing," said Amar Breckenridge, senior associate at Frontier Economics.

“The results show once again that in an interconnected economy, consumers and governments suffer alongside legitimate businesses from the trade in counterfeit and pirated goods."