It You Can't Beat Purveyors Of Unauthorized Copies, Join Them -- With Style

from the win-win-win-win dept

Fri, Feb 23rd 2018 10:43am — Glyn Moody

One of the perennial questions around here is what companies should do about unauthorized copies of physical products. As readers will know, on Techdirt we don't think automatically filing lawsuits is the way to go. This little vignette from the New York Times reveals an alternative approach that is smarter and more remunerative:

At a pop-up market stall just off Canal Street, the Madison Avenue of the unauthenticated, shoppers have spent the last week snapping up off-price, jeans, hoodies, T-shirts and boxer briefs with a familiar, almost-right logo: ~~Diesel~~ Deisel. Sure, the "i" and "e" are on the wrong side of their usual do-si-do. But you get what you pay for. They're $69.99; Diesel jeans generally start well over $200. Forget it, Jake -- it's Chinatown.

Companies like Diesel spend significant resources chasing down counterfeiters and stamping them out. According to Renzo Rosso, the founder of Diesel and president of its parent company, the Only the Brave Group, the label shut down 86 websites hawking fake products last year. But Mr. Rosso was crammed into the small, wood-paneled shop on Friday with no intention of dampening Diesel. He'd created it.

Rosso has realized that even unauthorized copies act as marketing for the original, and help to boost the brand. By producing his own fake versions, Rosso not only spreads the word about his company's products, but he even makes money from it. Moreover, by introducing a rival into the market of copies, he probably dilutes the other fake brands and maybe even their profits. It's a win-win-win-win situation, which Gucci too is keen to exploit:

Gucci has riffed on its own bootlegs (and styled its own "Guccy" logo) and set up shop with Daniel Day, better known as Dapper Dan, the counterfeit couturier it had once threatened out of business.

It's such a simple, clever idea, you wonder why no one has thought of it before. And the answer is -- they have. As Techdirt reported nearly nine years ago, a South African t-shirt designer sold its own counterfeit line and used that to boost awareness of the original products, while also being able to differentiate and sell into new markets -- and make money too. What's significant about the latest examples in the New York Times story is that it is top brands that have realized the power of this approach. And even if the idea of coming out with authorized "counterfeits", as Diesel and Gucci are doing, is not original, that somehow seems appropriate.

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Filed Under: competition, counterfeits, fashion, trademark
Companies: diesel, only the brave group

21 Comments

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Ninja (profile), 23 Feb 2018 @ 10:54am

But, but... Stealing! But, but FREELOADERS! But, but.. BRAND VALUE!! *sound of brain snapping* - Your usual troll and/or clueless lawyer
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Ryunosuke (profile), 23 Feb 2018 @ 11:03am

It's almost like [puts on shades] "Copying is not theft." Who knew?
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Mike Masnick, 23 Feb 2018 @ 11:10am

Hey, minion: told you not to run this piece. It's stupid because only applies to "fashion industry", selling the same Chinese-made pants for 70 rather than ridiculous 200. I get all my "relaxed-fit" pants at wholesale, anyway, 30 bucks tops.
Copying a well-known (at least here on tiny little Techdirt) name plus some other minion's frequent wailing that "his" name was used in FCC comments completely debunk this piece.

Is also another instance of FORCED TO because so many around "borrowing" name. It's certain that IF COULD, WOULD prosecute to full extent of the law: an iron box with spikes on the inside.

And what the hell means bit about "e" and "i" swapped? Last time I checked, DIESEL it is, and that's the sole way it's given here...
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Killercool (profile), 23 Feb 2018 @ 11:22am

Re: Derpa durr
What am I to do with all of these thousands and thousands of exceptions?

Why, there are so many exceptions, it's almost like the copyright maximalism I support is merely the status quo, instead of a natural law!

Impossible!

MASNICK, YOU FOOL! GOOGLE! CENSORSHIP! COMMON LAW!
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Mike Masnick is not Out of the Blue, 23 Feb 2018 @ 11:34am

Re: Hey, minion: told you not to run this piece. It's stupid because only applies to "fashion industry", selling the same Chinese-made pants for 70 rather than ridiculous 200. I get all my "relaxed-fit" pants at wholesale, anyway, 30 bucks tops.
The counterfeit item had the letters transposed, like these:

https://www.retaildetail.eu/en/news/fashion/diesel-opens-very-own-counterfeit-store
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2018 @ 11:46am

Isn't this just the same thing as having a low-end product line and a high-end product line?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2018 @ 11:51am

Re:
How many brands that trade on their name do that?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2018 @ 11:52am

Re: "e" and "i" swapped

And what the hell means bit about "e" and "i" swapped? Last time I checked, DIESEL it is, and that's the sole way it's given here...

Glyn mis-misspelled it. The NYtimes story says "a familiar, almost-right logo: Deisel", and has pictures clearly showing "DEISEL". The proper spelling would be "DIESEL".
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2018 @ 11:55am

Re:
Similar... this lets the customer feel like they're "getting away with" something. And by misspelling the name it's less likely to be confused with the "good" version (with some brands, the cheap versions are low quality but the difference from the "high-end" line isn't obvious--you need to know what model numbers to look for, or a modified logo...).
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glyn moody, 23 Feb 2018 @ 12:05pm

Re: Hey, minion: told you not to run this piece. It's stupid because only applies to "fashion industry", selling the same Chinese-made pants for 70 rather than ridiculous 200. I get all my "relaxed-fit" pants at wholesale, anyway, 30 bucks tops.
You're right, it should be "Deisel". Not sure how that happened...
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2018 @ 12:41pm

You can tell they are counterfeit by the gold fringe around the hem lines.
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ECA (profile), 23 Feb 2018 @ 1:05pm

REALLY?
Do you need to pay $????? for a good product??
All it says is, ROB ME ROB ME..
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Chris ODonnell (profile), 23 Feb 2018 @ 1:37pm

So now brands will sue counterfeiters not to protect their brand, as they always claim, but to protect their own "fake" revenue stream.

But they will still sue.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2018 @ 3:49pm

spelling

Rosso was crammed into the small, wood-paneled shop on Friday with no intention of dampening Diesel.

I think you mean Deisel.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2018 @ 4:43pm

Re: Re:

How many brands that trade on their name do that?

It's an open secret that this is common, e.g. Levis at Wal*Mart (they have different names/numbers but only jean-nerds would know those). A bunch of companies are said to specifically manufacture low-quality stuff for discount retailers or their own outlet stores.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2018 @ 5:36pm

Re:
Every day you find a new method to sink even lower, blue boy. It'd be fascinating if it wasn't so threadbare and pathetic.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2018 @ 5:59pm

or maybe they could just sell their normal brand at a realistic price. that would kill a lot of couterfeits. but yeah, then they wouldn't be making a ton of money for nothing from pointless pecuniary emulation.
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Belmont, 24 Feb 2018 @ 9:00am

WELL...
PUNA, NUMA, ADDADAS, MIKE, KINE, JOHNIE WORKER, I could go on forever...
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John Smith, 24 Feb 2018 @ 4:15pm

Let me know when I can republish your website to "boost its brand." I'll even send you a cut of the ads!!
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ryuugami, 25 Feb 2018 @ 2:05am

Re:
Oh snap! No, wait, you're just being stupid: You Can Copy Our Articles All You Want... But Please Don't Claim The Copyright Belongs To You
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2018 @ 12:52am

So would those qualify as counterfeits or official products at customs?
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