continues...
Pirated goods at every turn
Although vendors are extremely sensitive to anyone taking snapshots of counterfeit goods, they are openly sold throughout the capital. What is curious is that some items seem to be allowed to be sold at some markets but not others, so a buyer seeking a specific type of knock-off has to know where to look.
At central shopping centres such as Mahboonkrong (MBK), Fortune Town and Pantip Plaza, copied software, DVDs and CDs are readily available. Quality varies wildly and some software lacks security codes that allow for updates or renewals, but prices are low and the selection is impressive. Counterfeit bags and watches are not on open display, but at MBK some copied designer clothes, such as underwear and dress shirts, are sold. One vendor showed us a legitimate Louis Vuitton catalogue and said that for almost every item a copy was available _ with prices from 1,000 baht _ that he could retrieve from the car park. Such items were kept hidden in cars, he said, to evade police oversight.
Patpong Night Market is a hot spot for fake goods. On Patpong Road and adjacent sections of Silom and Surawong roads a vast number of brand name copies are openly sold. Our clandestine photography attempts were quickly pounced upon by nervous or angry vendors, but there were otherwise no attempts to disguise the nature of what was being sold. Watches included Rolex, Rado, Breitling, Tag Heuer, Casio and other brands _ with prices usually beginning at 1,800 baht and falling to 1,000 baht or less after negotiation. Bags included
Prada, Chanel and a Louis Vuitton imitation called Joe Louis. Proper Louis Vuitton copies were available, vendors told us, but had to be retrieved from secret stashes nearby as the police cracked down on these sales. Some famous names are notably absent, so it seems that some brands are more stringent with attempts at enforcing intellectual property laws than others.
The majority of bag vendors we spoke to in the area had moved from Myanmar in recent months, although they said that the owners of the shops and inventory were Chinese-Thai. They said business was good but that police payments had to be made weekly or sometimes daily to ensure that the goods weren't seized. They claimed that many of the bags were shipped in from Korea rather than China.
Pratunam market also sells high-quality knock-offs, more often aimed at bulk purchases by middlemen from west and south Asia and central Africa.
The Nana area of Sukhumvit Road, especially between Sukhumvit Sois 3 to 7, is another zone where knock-offs are frequently sold. Fake Mont Blanc pens and real and repackaged generic sexual enhancement pills are readily available, while counterfeit watches and handbags are harder to find than at Patpong, Buyers here are more likely to be in-the-know tourists than at Patpong, seeking out individual traders they found out about from friends.
As at Patpong, other popular knock-offs on sale included Nike and other trainers, Beats by Dr Dre headphones, sex toys and pharmaceuticals such as Viagra and Valium, and Calvin Klein underwear.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN THAILAND
Copyright infringement is big business. From digital copies of the latest CDs and DVDs to mass-produced or hand-crafted replicas of designer handbags, watches and accessories _ Thailand has it all. Even pirated Ferraris have been sold here, as the Italian marque found out in 2008.
The Kingdom is a perennial offender on the US Trade Representative (USTR) Office's priority watch list, making the list for the fourth consecutive time last year in the office's ''Special 301 Report''. The USTR praised some progress in Thailand's efforts to battle copyright infringement, while admitting that ''piracy and counterfeiting remain widespread''. Thailand was placed alongside a dozen other serial offenders _ China, Russia, Argentina, Canada, India, Algeria, Chile, Indonesia, Israel, Pakistan, Ukraine and Venezuela _ while a number of areas were singled out as ''notorious markets'', including the Khlong Thom, Saphan Lek and Ban Mor shopping areas; the MBK, Pantip Plaza, Fortune Town and Fashion Island shopping centres; and the commercial districts of Silom and Sukhumvit.
In response to Spectrum's request for comment, the US embassy provided some information on anti-piracy efforts being taken locally.
''For the sake of artists _ whether they be Thai, American, or from anywhere else _ and to encourage creativity and innovation by all, the protection of intellectual property rights is very important to Thailand and the United States,'' said embassy spokesman Walter Braunohler. ''US trade law requires an annual report of all countries in regards to intellectual property rights, and we continue to work with the Thai government at all levels to work on the challenge of protecting these rights.
''If you ride the BTS, you will see our latest collaboration with the Thai Ministry of Commerce. Together, we teamed up with several prominent Thai artists to produce posters for the BTS highlighting the importance to artists of buying real, not fake, products.''
It remains to be seen whether the latest campaign will have an effect. High-ranking officials at the DSI have told Spectrum in the past that they only handle big players in cases of piracy, such as ''factories, storage places, distributors or big retailers where the value of goods seized exceeds 500,000 baht'', and that street stalls and small shops won't be raided, ''as this is the duty of other agencies''.
We asked one artistic director of a luxury leather brand made in Thailand whether he was also affected by piracy.
''Unfortunately,'' he said, ''we are also victims of people who copy models, packaging, even our web texts! Unfortunately all brands struggle here and copyright laws cannot be enforced in any way so it's better to forget about them.''
The Intellectual Property Department has said it is doing its best to control the proliferation of pirated goods in this country. Key to efforts by the DSI and DIP, however, may be cooperation of individuals overseeing street sales in local police districts, for whom such sales remain extremely lucrative.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/331682/the-knock-on-effect-for-bangkok-knock-offs
