Producers strike back against fake goods

Producers are fighting counterfeiting by offering rewards for those who detect fakes, among other measures. Some 92 of 262 cases of counterfeited goods discovered by the HCM City Market Control Department so far this year are related to intellectual property violations and industrial design forgery.
Faked goods technology has become more and more refined, hampering detection. But to combat the problem, some producers have offered rewards to those who detect faked goods.
The HCM City Market Control Department is still finding violations of industrial design and brand names to the tune of one every three days. In fact, the volume of counterfeited products is large and growing, and the technology is improving.
Sony Vietnam has even discovered a faked warrantee certificate for counterfeit Sony TVs, the third such case of its kind. Sony technicians say that the certificate is printed by offset technology and no longer by scanning as before. Wella, Nike, Panasonic and National Products have all been hit as well.
Producers worry that if faked goods continue to propagate, consumers will be afraid to purchase the real thing and market share will suffer. Vitec Clipsal has lost 30-40% of its market to faked goods and the figure stands at 70-90% for Sony MP3 players and memory sticks.
Producers fighting back
Nam Dao Company, the sole distributor of Germany’s Wella products in Vietnam, has offered a dong 20mil prize to anyone who reveals faked Wella products. The company has spent around dong 300mil in rewards so far, which accounts for 30% of its marketing spending. Sony Vietnam has also spent dong 1bil to disseminate information on faked Sony goods.
Still, many producers say that offering rewards to catch counterfeiters is only one measure and more specific and effective methods are needed. Nam Dao has even proposed changing product design.
Nike Vietnam, in the meantime, has tightened its relations with managers of Ben Thanh Market to fight the problem. As a result, Ben Thanh has ordered 21 kiosks to stop trading of faked Nike products, threatening those who ignore the order with fines. Sony Vietnam has also addressed the problem, asking police to investigate faked warrantee certificates.

 

Category: Business