Designer names like ‘Gucci’ and ‘Louis Vuitton’ have long taken home in the ever so aspirational fancies of the Indian urban-sphere. Relegated to whimsical fancies for many the vicarious is provided by the glut of fakes and counterfeits available from the local markets to digital marketplaces like e-bay or Facebook marketplace. Even the avant garde fashionistas try to save a buck or two if they can evade policing. Recently, anti-piracy raid seized staggering total of 62 bags worth Rs 5 lacs at Oberoi Hotel’s shopping centre. So the penetration and permeation has not left the hitherto unblemished and hallowed of places.
In this particular case, the duped customers were miffed as to how a five-star hotel after many customers and complained to the LV headquarters in Paris. The oversight agency Enforcers of Intellectual Property Rights (EIPR), an anti-piracy body was contacted by LV to get to the bottom of the matter. EIPR officials then alerted the cops who conducted the raid. Two accused were apprehended to boot. So what does it mean to label a product a counterfeit and not just a cheaper knock-off. Well, saliently, it must include another party’s federally registered trademark or wittingly using the other party’s trademark without the authorization.
The inspired knockoff designs however, remain outside the remit and protection of copyright and trademark laws. In India and more so in China, early 1990s witnessed mushrooming of quality-control foibles in food, medicine, and luxury products. With the proliferation of production of such haute couture stuff in China, tracing the supply chain becomes a herculean task as the fakes are produced in the same warehouses where the original craftsmanship is exercised. The phantomous third or midnight shift is where the world of counterfeits is forged and thrived.
The gamut of counterfeited and pirated goods is infinitely pervasive. From such handbags to luxury dress to Apple smart phones faking has long been devilishly alluring. In 2016, a report published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated trade figures touching $461 billion and 2.5 per cent of World’s trade– tantamount to the GDP of a small country. There are nearly3 million consumers buying fake goods each year, not for the want of the real stuff or affordability but due to uncanny resemblance and matchless replication. Today we have the age of super fakes or the fulmination of triple-A fakes.
Whether it is the logos, material or manufacture details, etc, there are few substantial distinguishing parameters. The superfakes are created with greater care and precision so much so that they remain inscrutable to an untrained eye. Precisely why we now have people learning how to spot counterfeit goods of high-end products. They sift through minutiae, infinitesimal imperfections and trace irregularities As perInternational Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC), counterfeiters are elusive to tax nets and thus aid in funneling of laundered monies across the dark world of organized crime.
Apart from the obvious follies of inadequate quality and uninspired innovation the fact that these products are manufactured in sweatshops through coerced child labor puts the nail in the coffin. Notwithstanding that there are few who argue that counterfeits can act as gateway products. Countering the perceived mal-impact, they act as free endorsements for the signature product and thus foraging market penetration and garnering popular scope. These commentators even advocate an immanent public interest in such counterfeits. The sobering reality of counterfeiting is the anchoring and breeding of organized crime syndicates immersed in terrorism, contraband and human trafficking and child labor. Concomitantly, they are causing massive damage to the brands that are at the cutting edge of fashion, design and innovation and resultantly destroying creative energies and inventive synthesis. So if one can’t muster curry and buy the high street fashion, it is best to shy away from the street corner faux pas.
