“Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?”
Steve Jobs

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Why we must Flag any company in LI guilty of promoting in any way Counterfeit products

I think it is crucially important for Western designers to redesign China. Link up with a major manufacturer and inform them politely of the demise of the counterfeit industry as of now – post yr links and comments. The notion of quality counterfeits must be rebuffed at source. Who is with me???

Global intelligence agencies claim that brutal organised crime syndicates now monopolise the counterfeit

goods trade, and by the look of the fake designer goods on offer, they may also read Vogue. Unsurprisingly,

the market in counterfeit goods has now become the biggest illicit sector in the world, eclipsing the drugs

trade, which has far harsher judicial punishments and significantly higher penalties for importing. Despite

action being taken by international organised crime agencies, business is booming for the counterfeit goods

trade, with a 50% estimated revenue increase in the counterfeit goods industry within the last three years.

The impact of counterfeiting - http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/11/11/2090589.pdf
Industry world-wide loses large amounts to counterfeiters. These losses not only affect the
producers of genuine items, but they also involve social costs. The ultimate victims of unfair
competition are the consumers. They receive poor-quality goods at an excessive price and are
sometimes exposed to health and safety dangers. Governments lose out on unpaid tax and incur large
costs in enforcing intellectual property rights. There is also an increasing concern that counterfeiting
is related to other criminal activities, such as trade in narcotics, money laundering and terrorism.
It is estimated that trade in counterfeit goods is now worth more than 5 per cent of world trade.
This high level can be attributed to a number of factors: i) advances in technology; ii) increased
international trade, emerging markets; and iii) increased share of products that are attractive to copy,
such as branded clothing and software.
The statistics and intelligence are being used to inform governments and influence them into
taking action. The US Copyright industry, including the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the
International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA),
have been groundbreaking in this field. The loss estimates are interesting but should be treated with
caution since they may be on the high side.
Table 1. Share of counterfeit products in total sales of the sector
Sector Share of counterfeit goods
as a percentage of turnover