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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Looking at a Furtive and Deadly Trade, February 9, 2006
This review is from: Knockoff: the Deadly Trade in Counterfeit Goods: The True Story of the World's Fastest Growing Crime Wave (Hardcover)
Every week I get a few e-mails from unknown sources, offering me "Genuine Replica Rolex Watches!" It makes me wonder what a fake replica Rolex watch would be like. As often as I get such messages, it is clear indeed that there is a market for the fakes. It's just an exercise in vanity, I tell myself. No one really needs on the wrist a genuine Rolex that costs thousands of dollars, and those who try to fake it at cut rates are just showing the same vanity, only discounted. It's stupid, but harmless, I used to think. Then I read _Knockoff: The Deadly Trade in Counterfeit Goods_ (Kogan Page) by business journalist Tim Phillips, and the fakes turn out not to be so superficial. "The next fakes you encounter might be the pills you are about to take for your heart condition, the brake pads the mechanic just fitted to your car, or the engine parts on the aeroplane you will be boarding this afternoon." They might also be helping finance the next terrorist outrage. It is a huge business, and each chapter here treats a different aspect of it. Phillips also has suggestions for stopping the problem, but don't get your hopes up.
Counterfeits are, of course, nothing new; Phillips cites amphorae of cheap Gallic wine that got fake stoppers to make them look like quality Roman wine in 27 BCE. There are, however, several reasons that counterfeit products are booming now. Globalization has made superbrands fashionable the world over with the logos, of course, prominently on the outside. Globalization has also made for factories in distant lands to make such goods, and to make them on the cheap if they can get away with it, or make extra units during secret night shifts, units that are sold secretly. China has become the workshop of the world, and is responsible for around two-thirds of the different fakes circulating around the world. Copying well has been a tradition in China for centuries, and although there are laws against knockoffs, there is little opportunity to enforce them in a culture of corruption. Even if attitudes there were to change, there could be no crackdown; stopping counterfeiting would cause huge unemployment problems and ruin the national economy. The international counterfeit economy has boomed because criminal groups are investing in it, especially after 9/11 when international money transfer scrutiny was tightened. Another problem with modern counterfeiting is that fakes can be perfect. A digital version of an album or a movie is nothing more than a great big number, and computers are very good at copying great big numbers with perfect fidelity. Computers are also responsible for easy sales of counterfeits. eBay is an easy way to sell knockoffs globally, and legally, the eBay company isn't at risk, because not knowing that the goods are fake, it cannot be held responsible. It does have a policy against selling knockoffs, but it is such a good business model that counterfeiters can find other online trading platforms.
Phillips's case is well made and worrisome. The World Customs Organization estimates that knockoffs trade at $512 billion annually; that's 7% of world trade, and other estimates go as high as 10%. The estimates are based only on known knockoffs, and because many of the fakes are undetectable even by experts, the estimates are necessarily low. "If the knockoff economy were a business, it would be the world's biggest, twice the size of Wal-Mart, its nearest competitor," Phillips says. In each chapter, he interviews experts on a particular region or branch of the trade, and none of them seems optimistic about any big change occurring. He suggests that we take renewed appreciation of the concept of intellectual property, that there be a combined international response to this international problem, and that governments and companies be honest with the public about the size of the problem. He says, however, that the most important step will be for the buying public of the world to wake up to the consequences of supporting the knockoff market. That's not reason to be hopeful. Everyone loves a bargain, and few are really concerned where it came from.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Readable, informative and highly recommended., October 3, 2006
This review is from: Knockoff: the Deadly Trade in Counterfeit Goods: The True Story of the World's Fastest Growing Crime Wave (Hardcover)
I bought this book as background reading for a client assignment, and was impressed with the author's balanced perspective about a subject that - as the recent debate over digital rights management illustrates - tends to create strong opinions.
For example, Phillips makes no bones about the fact that counterfeiting is theft and that it is anything but a victimless crime. At the same time, he notes that companies need to convince customers that their products (particularly music and films) have the value that the companies assign to them. He also observes that where there is a huge price difference between legitimate and bootleg product and little in the way of local support, convincing people to buy a genuine product will be tough.
Phillips also makes some interesting points about the links between counterfeiting and organized crime and terrorism, and the prevalence of fake pharmaceuticals and aircraft parts. He does this without being sensational, which is no small accomplishment when you consider that counterfeit parts have been found on Air Force One, and that in some African countries, 80 percent of the medicine is fake.
Readable, informative and highly recommended.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A real solid exploration of the market in fake goods, August 7, 2006
This review is from: Knockoff: the Deadly Trade in Counterfeit Goods: The True Story of the World's Fastest Growing Crime Wave (Hardcover)
When the voracious consumer society meets the international market in fake goods, the demand is massive, particularly since buyers covet brand image over quality or authenticity. That's the force behind the billion-dollar market in counterfeit designer goods, but it does not explain the demand for phony industrial goods. That market is based on price alone. The two markets combine to create a huge problem that author Tim Phillips examines at the global level. Phillips certainly has done his legwork, as this book - which is written in a journalistic style that could have been tighter - makes clear. He takes us to flea markets in Russia, warehouses in Manhattan, cottages in China, and the offices of police and regulators worldwide to show how pirated luxury consumer goods, software and industrial parts are bought and sold to suspecting and unsuspecting consumers worldwide. He provides names, places and details of the crimes. We find this informative treatment of a pervasive global problem both enlightening and disturbing, and recommend it to people in supply line logistics, branding, corporate intellectual property and law enforcement.
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