The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Trade in fake hardware thriving

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 10, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Trade in fake hardware thriving

K. Satyamurty

Police raid on a unit indicates existence of grey market in peripherals

Bangalore: The country's information technology capital may be becoming a hub for fake products related to computers and peripherals.

The grey market known till now for fake ink cartridges for printers has gone in for more sensitive products such as computer cables.

On Thursday night, the city police raided a unit making duplicate computer cables with fake labels of D-Link, a well-known company. Over 3,000 metres of cable estimated at Rs. 1 lakh were seized by police.

Also seized were fake packing material, holograms and price stickers, all closely imitating the original.

The police have registered a case under the Indian Copyright Act and arrested one person. Behind this raid was the Mumbai headquartered Enforcers of Intellectual Property Rights (EIPR), India's largest investigation agency specialising in anti-counterfeiting. It provides services such as IPR investigations, grey market evaluations, "pretext purchases" and raids in coordination with local police. It also has an office in Bangalore. EIPR Investigating Officer Satheesh Kumar said: "Pretext purchase is when one of us approach a dealer or manufacturer of fake products, showing interest in buying them. This helps us compare the original and the fake and make sure it really is a duplicate."

In the case of the D-Link cables, the packing material was found different from the original in its colour combination and the holograms and price stickers used were obviously fake. "It was all copied to mislead the consumer. Such violation of copyright is a serious crime that affects not just the original owner but also those who unwittingly use the products and services. They pay the same price but don't get the same quality.

In this case, we had information on the activities of the fake manufacturer and kept a watch on his movements before approaching the police. With the raid, the intellectual property rights of D-Link and its brand image have been protected," Mr. Kumar said.

Every year, business worth several crores of rupees is lost to those making spurious goods related to computers and their peripherals. The product most often imitated is inkjet cartridge for computer printers and all the big names are freely counterfeited.

Other imitation goods include routers, switches and software with the names of IT major such as Microsoft. There are unscrupulous dealers who offer a consumer the choice of licensed software that may be expensive and its pirated version, costing much less. The IT companies and their licensed resellers feel rooting out the fakes is the only way not to offer a temptation to consumers.

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