Counterfeits of your product on Instagram: the counterfeit report and the evidence it needs

To report counterfeits of your product on Instagram, use Instagram’s Counterfeit Report Form, or the counterfeit option on its Trademark Report Form. Both are for owners of a registered trademark and their authorized representatives. The report needs your registered mark and its registration details, a link to each post, story, ad or account selling the fakes, and a clear explanation of why the goods are counterfeit. Instagram treats the sale or promotion of counterfeits as trademark infringement, and accounts that sell them may be disabled.

The form is fixed; the evidence is the part you control. This guide covers what counts as a counterfeit, the evidence package that makes a report easy to act on, and what to do when the same sellers come back under new names.

The short answer

• The form: Instagram’s Counterfeit Report Form, or “I found content that I believe offers counterfeit goods” on the Trademark Report Form.
• The requirement: a registered trademark, one per report, with its registration number and a link to the registration or a copy of the certificate.
• The links: up to 30 per report, covering posts, stories, ads or a whole account.
• The explanation: why these goods are imitations bearing your mark, in a few specific sentences.
• “Replica” is no defense: Instagram says counterfeits may be unlawful even when the seller says they are not genuine.
• Recurring problem: apply for Meta’s Brand Rights Protection.

What Instagram counts as a counterfeit

Instagram’s help page on what a counterfeit is defines a counterfeit good as a knockoff or replica of another company’s product that usually copies the trademark (name or logo) and/or distinctive features to imitate a genuine product. It calls manufacturing, promoting or selling one a type of trademark infringement that is illegal in most countries, and adds that counterfeit goods “may be unlawful even if the seller explicitly says that the goods are counterfeit.” The Instagram Terms of Use list counterfeit and pirated goods among the intellectual property violations users must not commit.

The report form itself is narrower: it defines a counterfeit product as “an unauthorized imitation or reproduction of a product bearing the trademark of the original rights owner.” That definition shapes what you can report:

• Clearly in scope: goods carrying your name or logo that you did not make, sold as your product or as a “replica” of it.
• Not counterfeit: genuine products resold by someone you did not authorize. That may be a contract or distribution problem, but the goods are real, and reporting them as fakes means making a false declaration.
• Harder cases: products that copy your design under their own name. They do not bear your mark, so the counterfeit form fits badly; other rights may apply, and that is a question for a lawyer.

Who can report, and what you need first

The Counterfeit Report Form asks how you relate to the rights owner: the owner, reporting for your organization or client, or reporting for someone else. Instagram says a report must come from the rights owner or someone authorized to act for them, such as an attorney or agent. If you act for someone else, have proof of that authority ready; the Trademark Report Form asks for documentation of it.

Before you start, have these ready:

• The registration. One registered trademark per report, the country or office where it is registered, and the registration number. The form asks for a link to the registration in an online trademark database or, failing that, a certificate (JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF or PDF).
• Your official presence. A link to your website or official account, so the reviewer can compare.
• A contact email you are happy to share. The form says Instagram provides the rights owner’s name, your email address and the nature of the report to the person who posted the content.

No registration? The counterfeit route is closed, but two others remain: copyright for any product photos the seller copied from you, and impersonation if the account pretends to be your business. Our guide to trademark versus copyright reports explains how to combine them.

The evidence package

The form’s fields are fixed. What decides a report is what you put in them.

1. Every link, one per box. The form accepts up to 30 links or IDs per report and asks what type of content you are reporting: a photo, video or post, a story, an ad, an entire account, or other. Link to the specific listings, not just the profile.
2. Dated captures. Screenshot each listing showing the handle, the product, the price and the caption, with the date. Stories disappear and sellers delete posts once reports start, so capture before you file.
3. A short, specific explanation. The description field asks how the content infringes your rights. Three or four sentences work best: your mark appears on goods you did not manufacture; the listing uses words such as “replica”, “1:1” or “mirror quality”; the price is far below your retail price; and you do not sell through this account or any reseller linked to it. Point to details that differ from the genuine product, such as labels, packaging or materials.
4. The case for a whole account, if you report one. The form notes that accounts contain many pieces of content and that it is uncommon for all of them to infringe one party’s rights. If the account exists only to sell fakes of your brand, say so and show a representative set of listings.
5. A court order, if you have one. The form has an option to say so, and Instagram replies with instructions for submitting it.

Then sign. The declaration states, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act for the rights owner and that the information is accurate.

If you cannot link to the content directly, the form lets you describe it instead, but links are far easier for a reviewer to act on.

Ads selling fakes

Counterfeit sellers often advertise. “Ad” is one of the content types on the form, so report the ads alongside the organic posts. To find every version an advertiser is running, the method in our guide to scam ads using your brand applies: search the brand in the Ad Library, open the advertiser, and collect each ad’s link.

What happens after you file

Instagram’s page on what happens after a trademark report says you receive an automated email with a unique report number, that the team may reply asking for more information, and that the reported person regularly receives the report number, the rights owner’s name, your email address, the report details and instructions for appealing. Save the report number and answer any follow-up quickly.

Instagram’s page on counterfeit goods says the sale or promotion of counterfeits is not allowed and that accounts may be disabled if Instagram believes they were selling or promoting them. Expect the same sellers to return under new handles. Keep a folder with the registration, your captures and every report number, so the next report takes minutes.

When fakes keep coming: Brand Rights Protection

The first screen of both forms points owners of registered trademarks to Brand Rights Protection, Meta’s tool for finding and reporting counterfeit, trademark and copyright issues across its platforms in one place. Meta’s overview of Brand Rights Protection says it lets approved brands search for content and accounts misusing their intellectual property, send takedown requests, track results, and add reference images to help detect infringing content, and that Meta attempts to remove bad actors and disable repeat infringers’ accounts where appropriate. Access requires a business portfolio in Meta Business Suite, an active registered trademark and no history of intellectual property violations.

When to get help

A handful of listings from one seller is a report you can file yourself today, with the package above. Help is worth it when fakes appear faster than you can report them, when sellers keep returning under new accounts, when ads and organic posts need to be handled together, or when the brand’s trademark ownership runs through a parent company or licensee. That is the work behind our copyright and brand protection service: evidence assembled once, reports filed through Meta’s official forms and tools, and a record that makes the next round quick. We make no guarantees, and if the goods turn out to be genuine products resold, we will tell you a counterfeit report is the wrong tool. You can start with a free case review.