Yet Another Study Says Counterfeit Products Aren't Really A Problem
from the let-it-go dept
Last year, we wrote about a fascinating study that indicated that counterfeit goods very often are not a problem for the manufacturers of the legitimate goods. That was because the study found two things: (1) most consumers buying counterfeit goods weren't being "tricked." They knew they were buying counterfeit goods, and it actually created a lower entry point into the market; (2) as such, it actually acted as really good advertising. The study found that 46% of those who bought a counterfeit brand-name purse, went and bought the real thing within two and a half years. That came on the heels of a variety of studies and reports that showed that the claims from the industry about the supposed "harm" from counterfeiting wasn't just overblown, but were blown so far out of proportion as to be ridiculous (though, politicians and reporters seem to have no trouble repeating such claims regularly).It looks like we've got yet another study highlighting exactly the same thing -- and this one coming from a guy who is an advisor to the UK government. Gautam John points us to this new bit of research by Professor David Wall which was funded by the EU, which found that counterfeiting isn't really that big of a problem. The findings were quite similar to the study we reported on last year. It says that there's a consumer benefit to buying knockoff designer goods, and that the "losses" claimed by companies are way out of line with reality. Furthermore, perhaps most surprisingly, the report says that law enforcement should not waste their time trying to stop the bootleggers. The report also debunks the popular claim from the industry that counterfeit goods fund terrorism and organized crime.
Now, the report focuses on designer goods -- and notes that there is a real concern about potentially counterfeit pharmaceuticals (though, the industry often tries to lump generics in with counterfeits) and things like fake airplane parts. But this has always been the problem with attempts at lumping together all of these things. The actual "harm" is very different depending on what kind of products you're talking about. The designer goods industry -- and the copyright industries -- have been trying to lump themselves in with things like fake drugs, to try to get everyone worked up in their favor.
So it's nice to see a report like this specifically break it out and note that designer counterfeits aren't a problem. In fact, the report points out that problems of lumping all these things into one category: which is that law enforcement spends less time focusing on the things that really can create harm (fake drugs and airplane parts and such) and is forced to go running after fake handbags that don't actually damage the market.
With various governments getting ready to finalize ACTA in a few weeks, isn't it... rather concerning that the entire basis of the agreement doesn't appear to hold much water?
Separately, Bruce Ediger points us to a different study that tries to claim that people who have counterfeit goods are more prone to dishonesty, greed and cynicism. So, perhaps you can read into that a different kind of "harm" from counterfeit designer goods, though the design of the study itself seems a bit more suspect -- and even if you believe that study, that's never been the rationale for government action when it comes to counterfeiting.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: counterfeits, designer brands
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The missing link
Actually... There is a very small link to organized crime and counterfeit goods. Most gangs make a lot of counterfeit goods that they sell in their community. While I understand the rationale when the VCR was prevalent, it's such a minor crime that anyone could do it. With DVDs and the internet, there's probably more that's done with counterfeiting and crime. A few gangs I hear about were the mafia, the Chinatown triads, and quite a few other gangs that want to make a fast buck.
I don't say this to say that I advocate a heavy handed approach to counterfeiting. I just believe that if there IS a link to these two, the least of a worry trying to arrest criminals is whether they're copying a movie.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: The missing link
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The real harm is materialism.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sally really likes the $500 Coach bag. Sally only has $20 to spend on a bag. Sally buys a counterfeit coach bag for $20 on the street corner, she knows it is not real and does not expect it to be of the same quality but it looks good.
ZOMG Coach totally lost $500 to the evil counter fitters!!! We know that there were over a million counterfeit bags sold last year so obviously coach lost $500,000,000 to the pirates!! Write up a new treaty of something quick!!!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: The missing link
Better keep an eye on you now. It's only a matter of time....AH! RAPORIST! RAPORIST!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
In completely unrelated news today, The United States government unleashed a new law to battle counterfeit designer bags. Detractors said that they are doing this only at the request of specific companies, a charge that Senator Dewey Cheetum steadfastly denies:
"There is nothing," Senator Cheetum said angrily. "To the rumors that the Consolidated Offensive Against Crappy Handbags bill was manifested at the request of ANY individual company. None whatsoever!"
One demonstrator pointed out the acronym of the bill and asked Senator Cheetum about it.
"No, no, no," he responded. "You have it all wrong. The bill was written at the request of Craig T. Nelson."
The Senator was then shot 442 times in the balls....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Study on counterfeiting corelated to dishonesty, greed and cynicism
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Go to any tourist trap area of any large city and you'll find stores filled to the brim with them which will later appear in thrift stores such as Value Village a few weeks after the tourist "season" ends. (For Vancouver there are two of them: Summer or Grouse Grind Season and Winter or Ski Season.)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
User Comment Rule and Additional Info
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: The real harm is materialism.
Also, all rich people never did anything to earn their money. Literally ALL rich people inherited their money, and since this IS true and in FACT true, we must tax them to death so that all the poor people can have problems with materialism as well.
Let's make sure the poor people are exactly like rich people. Make sure poor basically never do *anything* to merit stuff either.
Spread the materialism and entitlement (that we hate rich people for) to poor people as well.
Now EVERYONE will be the same life-sucking materialistic dirtbags.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: User Comment Rule and Additional Info
And you realize that the effects of counterfeiting are minimal because of enforcement, right? If you could buy a fake rolex at a store selling real ones, the one selling real ones would go out of business right away. But if they're only available in sketchy corners of town where the sales force is barely trustable, the effects will be minimal just like the study found. This proves that enforcement is good.
But go on believing this study and thinking that the world will okay if we could only buy fake Land-o-lakes butter for the half the price of the real butter. We know that the fake factory in China would never mix in melamine or something inedible, right? We know the fake Gucci factory would never use lead or something poisonous in their dyes. We know that the fake Nike factory would use quality leather from green sources and tell the truth about it in their advertising.
Face it, if you lie down with dogs, you're going to get fleas.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: User Comment Rule and Additional Info
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: The real harm is materialism.
Are you saying that those people can't pay?
The most incredible part is that the other 99% are the ones that foot the bill when it comes to taxes, something is wrong don't you think?
Not that I care that much about others being filthy rich, I don't care about that, what I do care is balance and right now things don't seem to be balanced at all.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: User Comment Rule and Additional Info
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: The real harm is materialism.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: User Comment Rule and Additional Info
Do you have any evidence for that claim?
But if they're only available in sketchy corners of town where the sales force is barely trustable
Do you have any evidence that that's where knockoffs (I'm assuming by "fake" you mean imitations, not trademark-violating counterfeits) are primarily sold?
We know that the fake factory in China would never mix in melamine or something inedible, right?
You know that product safety is a different issue, right? And that it was explicitly mentioned in the post?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: User Comment Rule and Additional Info
The post you responded to was a joke, not a serious comment from anyone here. That is not someone working for us.
Amusing that you would miss the satire, but oh well.
Everyone is free to post here, even if you disagree with the results of the study.
And you realize that the effects of counterfeiting are minimal because of enforcement, right? If you could buy a fake rolex at a store selling real ones, the one selling real ones would go out of business right away.
Conjecture not supported by any evidence. In fact, the actual evidence supports otherwise. Last year we wrote about a clothing firm that created its own "counterfeit" brand to see what happened, and offered it in stores, and found that it increased the sale of their main brand. Ah, proof.
But if they're only available in sketchy corners of town where the sales force is barely trustable, the effects will be minimal just like the study found. This proves that enforcement is good.
Wait, some totally random conjecture, that isn't back up by any evidence "proves" something. How so?
We know that the fake factory in China would never mix in melamine or something inedible, right? We know the fake Gucci factory would never use lead or something poisonous in their dyes. We know that the fake Nike factory would use quality leather from green sources and tell the truth about it in their advertising.
Ah, false appeal to safety. I made clear in the post that this didn't mean we should ignore the safety aspects, and there you go lumping it in with the non-safety aspects.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: User Comment Rule and Additional Info
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: User Comment Rule and Additional Info
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
OpSec Security Brand Protection Solutions
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]