Counterfeiting, a dampener for Indian market

In 2007, India adopted the Intellectual Property Rights (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules, a set of regulations designed to stop the importation of infringing goods into India

As per NASSCOM, software piracy rate in India is estimated to be about 60%.Counterfeiting has long been recognized as a serious problem for both businesses and individuals, as it has been witnessed that fake products and parallel imports flourish in the price sensitive markets masquerading to be genuine products at a lesser price.

India is regarded as the one of the largest economy in the world. Its population of 1.2 bn makes it the second largest potential market for goods and services. In a market with such enormous potential for growth, counterfeit brands and products pose the biggest threat to product manufacturers, both foreign and domestic. The act of deceptive passing off of good under the banner of a leading manufacturer is what is defined as the act of counterfeiting or piracy is layman's term.

In 2007, India adopted the Intellectual Property Rights (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules, a set of regulations designed to stop the importation of infringing goods into India. These rules give Indian Customs Authorities the power to deal with counterfeit and pirated goods at the borders. They lead to customer dissatisfaction, negative experiences and also have a major impact on the credibility of the Brand itself.

NEGATIVE IMPACT OF PIRACY
"It is always important to use genuine versions of any software for better performance and backup & recovery process. Often, users drift towards fake or rogue products/software as they are designed to look legitimate and come at a lower price points, without realizing the impact it could have on their devices and personal information," says Ritesh Chopra, Country Manager, India, Symantec who are producers of the antivirus Norton.

Individuals fail to realize that a fake antivirus can sometime prove to be a wolf in sheep's clothing for consumers capable of collecting personal information at the background by subtly putting a spyware on the device, while it poses to be a tool that is helping curb identity theft. Therefore it is important to educate and alert the customers to be vigilant while making purchases. A well-known and trusted brand of Antivirus should be considered rather than cheaper pricing as the selection criteria. After all, it's a matter of one's digital / virtual identity that is at stake. Even Gordon Wu, Regional Head South Asia, Transcend believes that the fake products are sold at prices much lower than genuine Transcend products. however, by using unknown and low-standard components, they not only suffer from poor performance but may cause risks to health and along with growing sales on the grey market it affects the reputation of brand.

Lately, there have been incidents where some counterfeit Transcend products are being sold to naive customers, who realize the problem only after purchasing the counterfeits. These fake Transcend products are produced and sold by unauthorized manufacturers, distributors and resellers. The phony products fail to meet the quality and performance of genuine Transcend products and their usage pose a danger of potential health damages as well.

INITIATIVE TO CURB PIRACY
In 2007, India adopted the Intellectual Property Rights (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules, a set of regulations designed to stop the importation of infringing goods into India. These rules give Indian Customs Authorities the power to deal with counterfeit and pirated goods at the borders. Various brand owners realize the importance of protecting their brand name even after registering it under the appropriate IP laws.

In order to increase consumer and government authority awareness of how to identify counterfeit products, various manufacturers are organizing seminars addressing the same. Other strategies include lobbying with state and central governments for formulation and proper implementation of property rights and copyrights at local, state and central levels.

Transcend Information, officially announced an advisory against the distribution of fake products in India. Transcend appeals to Indian customers to implement their rights.

Transcend requests its Indian customers to purchase genuine products only from the authorized distributors as it has major benefits like manufacturer warranty and after sales service which can only be provided on the genuine Transcend products. Each Transcend official product is 100% tested for stability, compatibility and performance. The pProducts are also warranted to be free from defects in material and workmanship and to conform to the published specifications. Official distributors also provide full warranty and RMA service, which will not be provided on the fake products.

"It is important that people help in growing awareness regarding the use of authentic products rather than counterfeit look alike of the same. Transcend reserves the right to take legal action against those who deliberately sell or purchase these fake goods. For such instances, Transcend further declares that it will initiate both criminal and civil actions, and seek full recovery for damages caused to the brand and its reputation," adds Wu. 

"At Symantec, for the last 30 years we have believed in delivering quality and value for money products to our users and proactively urge them to take a judicious decisions based on these parameters while making a purchase. A fake product can never provide the robust security that is equivalent or close to a genuine product. Additionally, at the channel level, we continuously encourage our partners and resellers to buy from an authorized distribution channel and not go with pricing alone, as that's one mistake they could make."

According to a White Paper published by Skyquest Technology Group, Curbing Brand Counterfeiting manufacturers must regularly update the packaging of their product with anti-counterfeiting features like holograms, hidden words, and symbols etc. to distinguish the fake goods from the original ones. Further, technological advancements have enabled manufacturers to add serial numbers that can be identified online by the consumer.

Microsoft asks its buyers to always look for a Genuine Microsoft Label or a Certificate of Authenticity (COA). Both of these are labels that help in identifying genuine Microsoft software. A Genuine Microsoft Label or COA is not a software license - it is a visual identifier that assists in determining whether or not the Microsoft software one is running is genuine. However, without either one, a user does not have a legal license to run Microsoft software. A Genuine Microsoft Label or COA should never be purchased separately from the software it authenticates.
Microsoft is working to educate partners and consumers about the risks of getting software from suspicious sources. "We are investigating the sources of these Spam and counterfeiting operations and are doing everything in our power to stop this kind of activity. Purchasing from known and trusted sources and avoiding ‘too good to be true' deals are the best ways to avoid wasting valuable time and money on counterfeit or infringing software, " said a Microsoft spokesperson. Microsoft anti piracy raids done to curb the acts of selling counterfeit products have made many channel partners retaliate on their methods of catching them red handed. Reports say that many channel partners have stopped selling Microsoft products and have even gone on strikes.

STRINGENT MONITORING STILL LAGS BEHIND
Such acts are no-doubt commendable efforts by corporations, but have barely scraped the surface of the infection. Brand owners need to realize the importance of monitoring their Intellectual Property. The authority merely promises protection by enforcement. The detection of infringing actors is the burden of the IP owner. Monitoring is an equally essential part of a successful brand management cycle.