The article is kinda fuzzy about a couple distinct things: * Gray market is selling a product to someone you're not authorized by the brand to sell it to. For

The article is kinda fuzzy about a couple distinct things: * Gray market is selling a product to someone you're not authorized by the brand to sell it to. For example, the brand says you can only sell these units in geopolitical region A, but you quietly sell to region B, where you can get more money for them. The biggest impact to the buyer might be that they don't have the brand's warranty coverage. * Counterfeiting could include all the other things described. Where you're not getting the physical product that you thought you're getting. In one startup, we were initially pitching anti-counterfeiting solutions. But in enterprise sales courtships, it seemed premium brands were often more immediately concerned about gray market diversion. It could be that gray market hurts more immediately or obviously, whereas counterfeiting impact on sales and long-term brand reputation is harder to quantify and attribute. Although this article is by CRN (formerly Computer Reseller News), it's much bigger than their perspective... With Cisco, and other critical infrastructure or life/safety-critical systems/products, counterfeits have the additional problem of threatening safety and/or national security. In those cases, it's not just about a brand trying not to get defrauded or lose money&reputation, but it's also on the radar for government authorities entrusted to protect everyone.