Anti-Counterfeit Friday

Anti-Counterfeit Friday

By Darren Olivier   Friday, October 28, 2011   1 comment:

Quote of the day: "Counterfeiting is a monster. You cut one hand and another one grows…" Tina Rose, an anti-counterfeit programme manager for aftermarket sales at HP.

"If you view counterfeit products as illegal competition that means we have helped our partners and retailers who sell our genuine products to operate in a much more fair environment by re moving those counterfeit products from the market." Tina Rose in The National. And, HP’s raid in South Africa here.

Practical difficulties spotting fake intellects

A good story about counterfeits: innovating to stop it. Pharmasecure secures funding for its anti-counterfeiting technology. Marketwatch

Afro Leo’s fun pick of the day: Zimbabwe’s problem with Counterfeit Intellectuals

The Chinese have endorsed a culture of copying (all about sharing) which is why they are such prolific copiers and why one has to understand their culture before being over critical about their IP regime. Heard that before? This fascinating short history of money published by Businessweek describes how the Ming Dynasty in China denounced counterfeiting several centuries ago “To counterfeit is death…” Buck up.

Counterfeit toys confiscated in England to be donated to children in Africa BBC Afro Leo says Santa Claus, this sounds kind but it is promoting an accepting culture for counterfeits in Africa, creating demand and perpetuating the problem.

Ethiopia and Samsung to collaborate against counterfeits

The Tobacco Institute of South Africa said over the past month, more than 160 million counterfeit cigarettes have been confiscated in the country. EyewitnessNews

On the Health Affairs blog Daniele Dionisio makes the case for a stronger regulatory regime to curb “bad medicines” and strikes at the confusion caused by bad drafting of anti-counterfeit legislation in East Africa, particularly. A slightly different but equally persuasive take on the problem revealed by this piece on AEI on sub-standard (as opposed to fake) medicines.

The workshop organised by the Assembly's Committee on Communications, Trade and Investment (CTI) took place on October 16-19, 2011. The topics ranged from: avenues for Private Public Partnerships (PPP) to curb imported sub-standards and counterfeit goods in the EAC region, the EAC's outlook on the counterfeits and anti-dumping. Plenary discussions on the how to strengthen quality infrastructure to prevent entry of sub-standard goods in the EAC region are also envisaged. StarAfrica 

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Doubly fake drugs kill patients, markets

Doubly fake drugs kill patients, markets

By Jeremy   Wednesday, July 29, 2009   3 comments:

"Chinese-made fake Indian drugs hurt industry's image in Africa" is the depressingly descriptive title of an article in domain-b.com on the latest accusations of foul play aimed at the Chinese drugs industry. The claim has been made that China is now flooding West Africa with fake medicines bearing "made in India" labels, thus both tarnishing the image of India's fast-growing pharmaceutical industry and putting African lives at risk. India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has now detected three instances of fake imported bulk drugs from China.

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Nigeria textile industry under threat from China fakes

Nigeria textile industry under threat from China fakes

By Darren Olivier   Monday, October 27, 2008   1 comment:

MANUFACTURERS Association of Nigeria (MAN) and Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA), has raised alarm over the systematic and deliberate destruction of the Nigerian textile industry and economy by unscrupulous Chinese their textile exporters and called on the Federal government to engage the Chinese government over the matter. MAN and NTMA lamented that the most serious problem afflicting the textile industry in Nigeria is the unabated influx of counterfeit textiles from China according to this article in Vanguard (Victor Ahiuma-Young).

Presenting the joint position of MAN and NTMA, Executive Secretary of NTMA, Mr. Paul Olarewaju alleged the counterfeited textile fabrics originate in China and specifically target and copy the trade marks of Nigerian textile manufacturers, ‘Made-in-Nigeria’ or ‘Made-as-Nigeria’ on the selvedge and even blatantly take SON/NIS markings to deliberately mislead consumers. According to Mr. Olarewaju, the markets in Kano, Ibadan, Onitsha and Lagos are flooded with smuggled textiles through nation’s land borders, particularly, Niger Republic which now occupy over 80% market share.

For more on the devastating effect of piracy in Nigeria click here.

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China condemns its own export of fakes to Tanzania

China condemns its own export of fakes to Tanzania

By Jeremy   Thursday, August 14, 2008   No comments:

Remarkably, according to an article in the Daily News, China has issued an expression of regret concerning the inflow of its own counterfeit goods into Tanzania, calling for joint international efforts to stem the inflow. This comes with an admission from China's Special Envoy on African Affairs, Liu Guijin, that Chinese fakes had undermined the credibility of his country's products and that there was a need to fight the problem through customs. He said:

"We need to come up with a joint approach to tame this illegal practice through tightening control at the customs".

It seems to this writer that, since the counterfeit goods emanate from China itself, and its controlled economy is better equipped to monitor goods before they leave the country than it for the poorly-resourced Tanzanian customs to stop them entering the country, China should be prepared to take full responsibility for its own infringing exports.

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