|
|
THAILAND: Where Real Is Fake and Fake Is Real
By Gerald Goh
BANGKOK, Oct 5, 2006 (IPS) - Museums showcasing the weird and the wacky abound on this planet, but how about a museum of phony wares?
Welcome to the Tilleke and Gibbins Museum of Counterfeit Goods situated, ironically enough, in this South-east Asian country where counterfeit items are easy to find and popular among locals and tourists.
Located in the quiet neighbourhood of Soi Lang Suan in downtown
Bangkok - a few elevated-train stations away from the bazaars where copies of branded goods are sold - this quaint museum, the size of an average classroom, is open only by appointment.
Inside, row upon row of everything from counterfeit guitars to fake
Rolexes reside in display cases lining the walls, each bogus item displayed alongside its genuine counterpart.
According to lawyer Titirat Wattanachewanopakorn, the museum was
set up in 1989 as the Tilleke and Gibbins law firm began to amass an ever increasing amount of counterfeit goods left over from the cases it handled for companies using legal means to clamp down on illegal copies.
"We felt it would be best to set up this museum to create public awareness," Titirat said, adding that the intellectual property department is currently the biggest section in the law firm. Most of the visitors are students, government officials, the media and non-governmental organisations.
A walk through the museum shows all kinds of duplicate goods such as clothing and consumer items. Fake correction fluid, fake Playboy belly-button rings, even fake MSG - the monosodium glutamate seasoning may look authentic, but is chemically distant from the real McCoy.
Counterfeit products are everywhere, legal consultant with Tilleke and Gibbins Areera Ratanayu explains. "The more well-known a brand name is, the more (widespread) its counterfeit tends to be as well."
>From time to time, local media reports on raids by authorities on counterfeit goods and the burning of such goods. Drives pick up just before international conferences or events, when the government is keen to show action.
In September, nearly 5 million baht (133,120 dollars) worth of bogus cosmetics were seized from the Talad Rong Klue market on the Thai-Cambodian border, an operation whose trail Titirat speculates led from China through Laos and Cambodia and finally Thailand.
According to the International Intellectual Property Alliance, estimated losses from copyright piracy in 2005 - of motion pictures, music records, books, business and entertainment software - amounted to nearly 175 million US dollars in Thailand alone.
The global trade in counterfeit goods, including software, adds up to 5 -10 percent of total worldwide trade, or total trade worth 300 to 600 billion dollars, according to a consultant's report for New Zealand's economic ministry.
Lawyers who work on intellectual property issues argue that counterfeit goods hurt not only the manufacturer, but the consumer as well. They say the quality is often suspect.
'We have reason to believe that children are being forced to make pirated goods", says Titirat. But Junya Yimpraset, an activist with the Thai Labour Campaign, says this claim is speculative at best. "I don't think it's a big issue or (happens) on a big scale," Junya explained. "It's a shortcut, and it (certainly) isn't sustainable (in the) long-term."
But then some of the big names in sports goods, including Nike, Adidas and Puma, have had to watch their sub-contracting closely after reports that these operations, including those in Pakistan, have very poor working conditions and pay, and use child labour.
Going after illegal copies in the Thai capital is a bit like rowing against the tide, given the abundance and popularity of flea markets here. Consumers also say they know fully well that copies of branded goods are of poor quality and may not last long. Yet, they are perfectly fine with that.
Over in a small stall in the MBK shopping centre, famous for its counterfeit
goods, is a multitude of belts. Every square inch of wall space is covered with strips of plastic and leather. Two Dolce and Gabbana belts, hanging from the same rack are identical in every respect except the price - one sells for 399 baht (about 10.5 dollars) and the other for 199 baht (5.23 dollars).
Asked what the difference was, the woman shopkeeper pointed to the more expensive belt and uttered: "No copy. No copy." Asked again if it is the genuine article, she nodded in the affirmative: "Real, yes, real." And the other belt? She replied, "This one also good, you buy?"
When it comes to counterfeit cassette discs there is no confusion. "I always buy pirated CDs and DVDs," stated a shopper who would only be identified as B'. "I guess it's because it's cheap and I can sample many different albums and moviesą However, if I really like it, then I'll buy the original," she went on.
Judging by the throng of eager customers browsing through the folders of computer games and movies here, nobody seems to care a jot about legality.
Titirat says that raiding the vendors does little other than to serve as a deterrent because "they'll be there again the next day".
(END)
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
What is RSS?
