Crackdown On Import Of Fake Goods Urged During High Season: Thailand

[Ricardo]

Surely yet-another 90-day task for Poster-girl's hero, send for DPM-Chalerm !

Or did he already eliminate fakes being sold to tourists, as part of his recent crackdown on mafia-scams, on innocent tourists ?

Edited November 22, 2012 by Ricardo

[Payboy]

So, shutting down MBK and Pantip then?

[hellodolly]

Surely yet-another 90-day task for Poster-girl's hero, send for DPM-Chalerm !

Or did he already eliminate fakes being sold to tourists, as part of his recent crackdown on mafia-scams, on innocent tourists ?

I believe he did coincidentally it happened on the same day that he successfully eliminated 80% of Thailand's drug problems.

[Jawnie]

My Thai friends laugh at me when I pay full price online for software..... I'm from the US and that's just how I'm wired, it's stealing but they think I'm a fool.

I see no mention in the article about any type of undercover or sting operations. Nothing will change until that type of police work is undertaken.

Of course, the police could always go to MBK, Pantip, Fortune Tower, etc., ask for verifications of authenticity from the vendors there, and shut down those who can't provide it. Now, wouldn't that be something?

The truth is much different that all of this. Sting operations and raids at the malls would put people out of work, cause empty retail space, and put a serious dent in tourist dollars spent.

Seriously, Thai officials: nobody believes you when you say you are going to do something about this. It makes you look stupid when you act like we are stupid and are going to believe you. Haha....

[weegee]

When the rest of the world is dumping their seconds and inferior products in Thailand what can you expect?....People here will buy it because it's cheap, and sell it as imported high grade product at a massive profit margin.....Thats the way this is here.

STEEL...perfect example. The steel sold here no matter what grade, would not be allowed on the Western Markets, especially for construction of Hi-rise.

Dont believe me?....buy any piece of steel from any supplier and cut it with Oxy accetelene, holes appear when you blow out the impurities (like car doorhandles and the like) which comes in recycled steel products dumped on the Thai Market from other countries, with the help of a dealer here in Thailand.

Round and Round it goes....everywhere.

[DefaultName]

Imported!!!!!!!! I thought they were made here. I've been robbed! Often.

[stoli]

If they are saying this only takes place during the Tourist Season, the tourist season must last 365 days a year. They talk about enforcing the importation of these copies. If they want to stop the sales, go to the airport and stop the exporting of these copies. That will stop the sales. Once again, watch out for what you ask for. You will put many low income Thais out of business. They are only supplying what the tourist wants.

[hellodolly]

She said the government should concentrate its crackdown on red and yellow zones for illegal trading, which are tourism spots.

What is the difference ? If they are going to actually enforce an already existing law of the Thai constitution then they should crackdown nationwide and for 365 days per year every year. Just another case of we are Thai, we have one set of rules and everybody else is not.

She better hope no red shirts heard her say that. Is it going to be OK to sell all that fake stuff in low season?

[hellodolly]

If they are saying this only takes place during the Tourist Season, the tourist season must last 365 days a year. They talk about enforcing the importation of these copies. If they want to stop the sales, go to the airport and stop the exporting of these copies. That will stop the sales. Once again, watch out for what you ask for. You will put many low income Thais out of business. They are only supplying what the tourist wants.

You forget this is a PT government people don't count. How many of thos tourists think they are buying the real deal? At a guess about 25%

[Keesters]

Crackdown on import of fake goods urged during high season

Just import during the low season then.

[spidermike007]

What a load of BS, if they wanted they could go to ANY Panthip Plaza in ANY major city/town and find with ease illegal copies of Microsoft products, films, teaching aids etc etc, even major electrical stores carry new PC's preloaded with copy 'Windows'.

I was told by one such store manager in Chiangmai that they pay 5,000 Bt a month for a blind eye to be turned, however if the Bangkok police come and catch them (I assume that they get a 'heads up' from the locals) it is 10,000 and a few 'gifts'

Fake watches and the like are constantly being offered on Sukhumvit/Nana in direct view of the police post, the MIB will walk past these offenders to mug apprehend a foreigner discarding a cigarette end.

What a load of BS, if they wanted they could go to ANY Panthip Plaza in ANY major city/town and find with ease illegal copies of Microsoft products, films, teaching aids etc etc, even major electrical stores carry new PC's preloaded with copy 'Windows'.

I was told by one such store manager in Chiangmai that they pay 5,000 Bt a month for a blind eye to be turned, however if the Bangkok police come and catch them (I assume that they get a 'heads up' from the locals) it is 10,000 and a few 'gifts'

Fake watches and the like are constantly being offered on Sukhumvit/Nana in direct view of the police post, the MIB will walk past these offenders to mug apprehend a foreigner discarding a cigarette end.

Just another load of crap, made for public consumption. There is absolutely nothing behind it. No conviction, no intent to enforce, no will, no integrity. Just hyperbole. Even if she was sincere, how can she get the relevant authorities to give up their income streams? To give up the construction of their new villas, and to stop padding their overseas accounts? Of course, if the government was serious and started arresting, trying, and convicting the culprits, everything would change. If the guys selling this stuff were put in prison for 10 years, and their families were fined a million baht, change would come quickly. But, the chances of that happening are as great as Thailand becoming serious about reducing the use of plastic, cleaning up their beaches, or enforcing littering laws!

[coma]

The DSI boys are on the job. http://www.dailynews.co.th/crime/168529

[linno2]

It's more of a question of affordability, rather than out & out corruption.

Corruption in the true sense is when you try to sell the item swearing till your blue in the face that it's the "real deal"

Thais in the majority who are on a moderate to low income can only afford fake goods when talking about showing off a top label, so to are the "visiting farangs" who are just bargain hunting for an even lower price, fakes are part of Thai culture, until wages equal fashion prices then fakes will be prevalent.

You can't always blame China or other neighbouring countries either for forcing their goods over the border, in most cases you will find Thai business owners selling their fake goods to Thai consumers, both fully aware that they are fake.

Price dictates all in Thailand.

I completely agree with this – let’s face it, if Microsoft and similar offered software at a locally (Thai) affordable price then the preference would be for the genuine item - currently the market price is equivalent to over a month's salary for the rank and file - would any Westerner pay that for Windows 8? Ok I understand the fear of such companies that Westerners may gain access to cheaper genuine software – so, make it in Thai language without the capacity to change it back to other languages. I am currently on a short term assignment in South Asia - they sell copy bags imported from and made in Thailand!! They are marketed as the 'good copies'. I have seen them complete with the tags and holograms and ownership cards etc. If I was not told they were copies I would never had known. I also believe that the market for $5,000+ hand bags remains the same as these people do not buy cheap copy designer items. The 'average' person does not buy $5,000 designer items so probably no effect on the market and it could be argued that the designer company gets free advertising for what that is worth.

If we are really worried about fakes, then fake drugs are a much more serious worry as they kill many thousands of people worldwide including Thais I am sure. In one Central Asian country I was working in, the conservative estimated share of fake drugs sold at pharmacies is 50%! In one rich Middle Eastern country I was involved with eradication of this problem - the science demonstrated that at least 20% of the pharmacy imported and sold had sub-therapeutic or no therapeutic value at all. Not so good if you think your daily tablet is controlling your blood pressure or diabetes or blood clotting capacity!! Perhaps without surprise, drugs that enhance sexual capacity are the most faked drugs in the world.

In Thailand my guess is that soon we will see a mountain of DVDs and CDs etc being ceremoniously squashed by a giant steamroller or burned. I never see reference to fake or even copy drugs - except for when the US payed for full page drugs attempting to stop the GoT from making available generic drugs for HIV positive patients - and this was all about profit - a bit unfair consiodering the cost of the drugs from US or Switzerland was clearly unaffordable AND rather a shame considering that Thais had been used for many clinical trials to get the drug regimes licensed in the US and other Western countries - then they were dumped and many died once the clinical trial requirements had been met!!!

And for my last thought on IP, the US has been the creator of many wonderful things using their intellectual property. I also know they are not at all averse to 'borrowing' someone else’s intellectual property if it suits the business plan!