Often quoted is a loss to the US of 200 billion dollars, which I doubt is real. Most likely this is the retail value of those counterfeits if they were purchased as real brands. However, since people who could never afford nor pay for the real item purchase the majority of those goods, they don’t hurt the seller nearly as much as they claim. What person buys a $400 wallet or $1000 purse, only those to whom have a very high net worth and want the status of owning a brand name. If someone in China or Thailand buys a fake Prada, they couldn’t afford to buy the real thing.

Counterfeiter goods can actually help the real owners of the brand in certain situations in several ways. By preventing legitimate competition from emerging, if I can buy a counterfeit that is 98% as good as the original, then why buy another unknown brand? And by popularizing the brand with the masses who if they couldn’t buy counterfeit would buy some other brand.

Poor countries get a leg up by buying counterfeit goods like software, the USA did the same thing in our history before we were the dominate world economy.

Taken from Wikipedia. In America, Edison had been working on copies of the original light bulb patented by Swan, trying to make them more efficient. Though Swan had beaten him to this goal, Edison obtained patents in America for a fairly direct copy of the Swan light, and started an advertising campaign which claimed that he was the real inventor. Swan, who was less interested in making money from the invention, agreed that Edison could sell the lights in America while he retained the rights in Britain.

Counterfeit goods proliferate for only one reason; they can be produced much cheaper. If the goods were a copy that is 98% indistinguishable from the original, then I would contend in 50% of the cases the ordinals are selling for too high a price. Now in the case of soft goods such as music or computer software or drugs, I would say develop costs have to be amortized and the inventor should make a profit. But if the product is priced reasonably, then most consumers will pay extra for the real brand. Many designer brands are quite deliberately priced with extremely high margins.

The same can be said of tax systems, if taxes get too high, it encourages tax evasion schemes. There is a balance that has to be maintained, and when that balance gets too far on one side or the other, there are consequences such as counterfeit goods.

This is not to say counterfeit goods should not be illegal, and certainly if allowed to proliferate uncontrolled it would eventually destroy the original investors of the product. Just that I can see both sides of the debate, and I wouldn’t get morally upset at the situation Keep it under control is what I advocate.

“Walmart didn’t get to be number one by ingnorance on their purchasing decisions. Neither should you.”

Are you phucking kidding me? Walmart number one? Walmart is the biggest peddler of counterfeit merchandise, this side of the free world. I purchased some Fruit of the Loom sweat shirts and they fell apart for the second time. So this time, instead of returning them to walfart, I sent them to Fruit of the Loom. Their response? We didn’t make these!

Oh the irony, sweat shirts made in sweat shops!

Perhaps, illusion-of-the-mind, you should change your name to delusion-of-the-mind.

Ask Master P (Southern Rapper) how many years did he sell his own music out of the trunk of his car before he signed on with a major label.

Ask Prince why did he stop his “lucrative” deal with Warner Bros. to distribute/promote his own music.
It’s about control, nothing more. The little man wants his/her fair share.

As far as mixing apples and oranges, the monkey’s been off my back for years. This is a global economy and the cheapest guy wins…

Perhaps your gripe should be with the way our business model are structured and why they continue to out source labor to foriegn countries but expect Americans to pay the same or higher costs.

Is it any wonder why companies continue to go offshore?? Ask any employee at Stanley why the company went offshore to Bermuda. Ask GM’s 25,000 employees being laid off.

The answer has been developing for years as intelligent artists (Jay-Z for one) create their own record labels with fair deals for their musicians.

Not normal. These acts are illegal conduct. No one advocates their use. They will be prosecuted if they get caught.

“CD’s were selling at almost $16-20 in some stores….Isn’t it funny how they all of of a sudden dropped to about $10 to compete with the counterfieter?”

No, it isn’t funny because the next step from cutting costs is true bankruptcy, in which case no one will get anything new because the artist or inventor won’t provide these items without pay.

Yes there are victims in this scenario, but what about the normal business model…how many people were victimized by price fixing, price gouging ect?

CD’s were selling at almost $16-20 in some stores….Isn’t it funny how they all of of a sudden dropped to about $10 to compete with the counterfieter?

No I don’t advocate doing anything illegal, but again….It’s your money

Thank goodness for Ebay, and other sites where people can deal directly with each other for goods and services.

You’re mixing apples with oranges. The situation of seling bogus DVDs on the street is more like selling stolen stuff on the street than comparing it to Walmart selling things. People may get a bargain by buying stolen things but there are victims here.

In America like it or not…the middle man has gotten filthy rich of the backs of many. Why should I pay my GM/ or Honda Dealership $75 per hour to fix my car, when I can get their mechanic to do the same work for 50% of the dealers cost and cutting out the middle man?? The car still rides the same, but my pockets sure do feel different.

Walmart didn’t get to be number one by ingnorance on their purchasing decisions. Neither should you.
It’s your money…….

It’s all an illusion. People, things and information.