Counterfeit Seizures
Counterfeit consumer goods are goods, often of a very bad quality, produced and sold under the famous brand name without the brand owner’s authorization. Sellers, manufacturers as well as importers and exporters of such goods may infringe on either the trade mark, patent or copyright of the brand owner by passing off its goods as made by the brand owner. In cases, when the trade committee reveals the irregularities, the person is punished with the help of a definite tax and counterfeit seizures. The committee confiscates all the counterfeit products in order to protect the market and motivate the local manufacturers.
Product counterfeiting is a form of consumer fraud: a product is displaced on the international market, pretending to be something that it is not. This is completely different from the crime of copyrighting (very spread internet crime), which involves the unauthorized transfer of licensed material, such as the sharing of music or video files electronically.
Counterfeit is a well structured group activity as the counterfeit consumer goods have always existed on the market and the WTO (World Trade Organization) was always fighting against falsifications. Many jurisdictions take the offence quite seriously. As a result, most product counterfeiting would be considered organized crime under the Convention. Lesser goods have been passed off as high-quality merchandise since the dawn of organized commerce, but the practice has taken on new meaning and proportions in the latest wave of globalization.
It is very difficult to create an individual brand, but it is even more difficult to gain the name and popularity. This is one of the reason why counterfeit consumer goods appear on the market and have a great popularity among different social classes.
There are a lot of cases, when the customers who are aware of the fake brand, buy the product. These are some of the reasons:
1. Quality and Performance
Customers buy counterfeit consumer goods if they believe that it is just as good as the real product – they do not see any difference between the two except for price.
2. The Price
The customers buy counterfeit consumer goods because they cannot afford the real product and yet they feel as though they need the product in order to be successful.
3. Sentiment
The customers buy counterfeit consumer goods because they do not like the company that makes the real product. This is a major image issue that is generally much bigger than just the product.
4. Ethics
The customers buy counterfeit consumer goods because they do not think that it is illegal.
5. Ease
The consumers buy counterfeit consumer goods because they are easy to be obtained on the market.
Every manufacturer and seller has to encourage the customers to buy the products from their real brands which is going to reduce the number of counterfeit consumer goods. The following methods are going to help the trade business grow without any fake labels:
1. Counterfeits Are Poor Substitutes
Taking the time to show your customers how fake products really do not deliver the solution to their problems is a key step in diminishing the attractiveness of counterfeits.
2. Show That Pirates Are Not Robin Hoods
In today’s media, all too often some product counterfeiters are portrayed as being sort of a modern day Robin Hood. This glamorous image can attract customers who think that they are supporting the “good guys” by buying counterfeit goods. Revealing who is really creating the counterfeit goods and showing what they are doing with the money that they are making can quickly dispel this notion.
3. Give Your Product A Human Face
Often if the product is dominate in a market segment, customers may start to view the manufacturer/seller as being a faceless power. Taking the time to reveal who creates the product and how the product’s success has make their life better can help to put a human face on the product.
4. Talk About Ethical Issues
In the end everyone knows what the right thing to do is and buying counterfeit goods is NOT the right thing. Simply by having a discussion about ethics with your customers and taking the time to remind them what the right thing to do is can sometimes shrink the market for counterfeit goods overnight.
PUNISHMENT FOR SELLING ILLEGAL COUNTERFEIT CONSUMER GOODS
Most illegal distributors are caught as a result of online sales or because someone reports them. If the person is considered to be an illegal seller or manufacturer, he/ she is going to pay taxes with counterfeit seizures.
The criminal case is going to be opened. Unless a court finds some mitigating circumstances, intentionally using a counterfeit mark (and related behavior) may lead to an award of three times the profits or damages (whichever is greater), plus reasonable attorney’s fees. (The counterfeiter must have duplicated the trademark on the kind of goods or services for which the trademark was federally registered. That means that, for example, it is not counterfeiting to put the Gucci mark on automobile seat covers, as these are not goods for which Gucci has a registered trademark.)
