POSTING #69

Knock Offs

You will remember that I got sucked into a knock off scheme that was selling counterfeit Red Green DVDs (see Posting # 58, February 7, 2010).

Since then I have seen many articles on knock offs. One told about two 18 year olds in Florida who were holding Tupperware-type parties at which they were selling knock off designer handbags. Unfortunately for them, two of their customers at a recent party were undercover detectives. The enterprising youngsters were arrested.

Apparently, there is an upsurge in the under-the-table sale of knock offs in the US, and probably in Canada as well.

The International Chamber of Commerce estimates that the knock off trade is worth around $500 billion annually, which is, of course, money that firms like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Christian Dior and Burberry will never see.

I thought I would share a few stories about my international experiences with knock offs.

000

First in Russia in the mid-1990s.

When I was setting up our Project's office in Moscow, we needed English-language software for our computers---they came with only Russian-language software.

I asked one of the Russian staff to buy word processing, spreadsheet and database programs, and gave him my credit card.

I saw him start when I said the word, 'buy'.

"You don't need to buy the software", he said, "I have a friend who has all that software. He won't charge us anything---maybe just a bottle of vodka."

Now, when I had retired from the Canadian Public Service in 1991, I had been well trained. One didn't, didn't, didn't ever use bootleg software. If the RCMP didn't get you in one of their periodic sweeps of computer systems, the departmental Information Technology people would. The IT people were afraid---quite rightly---of the introduction of viruses via illegal software.

With this background and with ample money in our Moscow budget for software, I explained why we should buy licensed software.

My Russian colleague looked at me, "But everyone does it here. No one would ever complain."

'No, let's buy the software."

"Please, please don't make me do this. All of my friends in the other offices will think we are crazy. Please don't embarrass me like that."

We did buy the software, but I noticed that the boxes the software came in were quickly hidden away so it would look as though we were 'normal' and had installed bootlegged programs.

000

Ten years later, in Azerbaijan, the computers and software for our project were all legal. The European Union that was funding the project had even tougher rules than Canada about using only properly licensed products.

But outside the office---in the streets---it was another matter.

One of the local computer stores was selling disks for $2 that a clerk told me had computer software worth over a thousand dollars, programs that had been stripped of the codes installed by the software companies to prevent piracy.

DVDs of first run movies were available for two or three dollars. The quality wasn't great---I was told that they were copied by someone sitting in a cinema with a video recorder---but the price was certainly right.

Foreign visitors to Baku regularly stocked up on both the software and the movies.

000

Rolex watches have always been a favourite of counterfeiters. I remember years ago seeing people on street corners in the US and Canada selling Rolex knock offs quite openly. Then the authorities cracked down and the Rolexes disappeared.

During a trip to Malaysia in 1991, we discovered where the Rolexes had gone----there were tables of them in the markets of Kuala Lumpur.

We bought a man's and a woman's, for $10 each. They were to be just conversation pieces because Pat and I had discovered earlier on that we couldn't wear knock off watches because they either turned our wrists green or brought on a rash.

Sticking the watches in a suitcase, we forgot about them. When we arrived back in Canada, it was obvious that the suitcase had been tampered with. I worried about a valuable camera and a fancy shortwave radio, but they were safe.

You guessed it. The only items missing were the knock off Rolexes.

000

A final story about knock offs.

I am only going to say that the story happened somewhere in Asia.

Pat and I were riding the hotel shuttle into the downtown area one day. The bus was full of well-dressed women from many countries in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Although they were from different countries, they obviously knew each other.

One of them told us that their husbands were working on an international treaty and had regular meetings around the world, in places like Rome, London, and Tokyo. The wives usually tagged along on these trips and they liked to get together to do some sightseeing and shopping.

(As you can infer, this happened some years ago when treaty negotiations were conducted almost exclusively by men. The situation today would be quite different.)

The woman told us that she and her friends were off that day to a particular part of the city that sold knock offs. The local authorities, she explained, had clamped down on the public display of knock offs but there were still stores that sold them---but you had to go into the back of the store or into a basement and ask to see them.

Her eyes glistened when she talked about the quality and low price of the counterfeit handbags, belts, watches, and jewellery you could get at these shops.

When we asked what kind of treaty the husbands were working on, she looked more than a bit sheepish.

It was a treaty on intellectual property that would require all countries to ban knock offs.

Now, there must be a moral in there somewhere.

Pat and I put our heads together and came up with these morals (you are invited to try your hand at one as well):

"Strike while the iron is hot."

"While the cat's away the mice will play."

"Do as I say, not as I do."

000

POSTSCRIPT

After finishing the above part of the posting, I came across an article in the St. Catharines Standard (Friday, April 23, 2010) about the Canadian classical and jazz guitarist and composer, Jesse Cook.

In an interview, Cook told about one of his songs being bootlegged by an Indian, 'Bollywood', movie. Here is an excerpt from the article that serves, I think, as a perfect ending to this posting:

"A song of mine was ripped off by one of the highest-grossing Bollywood movies of the last few years," he says.
"Their big hit single was a song called Dhoom Dhoom (recorded by Tata Young), which was in fact my song Mario Takes a Walk."
He found out about the alleged copycat song, used in the movie Dhoom, from an Indian fan who wrote him on MySpace.
"It was the weirdest thing. Here was this blatant act of plagiarism and in fact, I loved it. I loved the version that this artist did, I thought it was better than my own," he says with a laugh.
"I just wished they'd called me and said, 'You know, we'd like to use your song.' Because there's no reason to steal when I would be happy to share."

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See you next Sunday for Posting #70 with more stories from our family’s universe! If you have comments or suggestions, please leave a comment at the bottom of this posting, or email me at johnpathunter@gmail.com