Team America, world police, take down 37,479 counterfeit sites A band of merry world police lead by the United States Customs and Border Protection service shut down 37,479 copyright-infringing websites hawking counterfeit goods in the lead up to the Cyber Monday buying blitz. The takedown involved varying forms of collaboration between 27 countries including the Britain, France, Denmark …
This is yet another carry-on from the music and film industry, who mistakenly think that buying a knock-off, means only that you're taking food from the mouths of the "authorised" sellers and manufacturers.
Bollocks.
The truth is, no sane person would spend $5000 on a fucking handbag. But they would spend a couple of hundred bucks on a knockoff, and be happy with it.
The truth is, no sane person would spend $5000 on a fucking handbag. But they would spend a couple of hundred bucks on a knockoff, and be happy with it.
True, but if thousands of people do so then the genuine article stops being desireable. Where's the fun in being seen in your £500,000 Ferrari, if there's a £25,000 lookalike parked outside every pub? Don't underestimate the value of being seen to own something exclusive. That's where the luxury manufacturers worry about losing out.
I've had good luck with them buying electronic components and such but, then again, who else have the oddball ones I look for? And follow up is apparently a must for them. Given how often I've been burned by first world firms, I'd give them some slack. Unless something really changes, Aliexpress will continue to get my custom.
"Take down".
Zero hour: DNS records get changed to redirect infringing web traffic to copyright infringement page.
Hour +1 (upto hour +24) : Infringing website is tweaked to update logos to new website name, tweaked website goes live via new URL.
Hour +24 > 76 : Emails / word of mouth get around, new website back in business.
Hour WGAF : "Legal" wrangling to prosecute owners of original website name: Undelivered letter. Un read notice at original URL.
Totally pointless.
Even the bi-annual police raids in China markets, they do a couple of arrests and take down one or a few stall (out of hundreds) to be seen to be doing something. The stall holders know in advance (apart from the new / thick ones), hide the stock, and are selling it again a couple of hours after the "raid".
Reality here, they are not defending quality products against inferior copies, they are defending advertising dollars spent on selling inferior products and quality products, basically all said and done, they are defending PR=B$ because of greedy corporations.
Laws should be about protecting consumers and not about protecting marketing lies.
what pisses me off is that often the goods are real - but deemed "illegal" because they've been imported via back door routes, not via the brand owners inflated distribution network.
The sooner the rules are changed so that goods really can be openly traded via parallel import systems, the better.
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