After learning about some of the risk distributors and their customers can face when counterfeits enter the supply chain, Maurice Electrical Supply, a $166-million distributor of electrical products in Washington, D.C., organized a seminar for its customers.

"Can I defend myself?" asks Warren Janes, Maurice vice president for sales and marketing. "You realize you can't. So you have to educate your customer base, and between the two of you figure out a way to move forward."

About 95 percent of Maurice's customer base is contractor, a segment that Janes wanted most to educate.