Slashdot Mirror
China Hires 1 Million People To Fight Fake Products
hackingbear writes "In a sign of the Chinese Government's intention to crack down on the black market, there were about 1 million people employed to remove fake goods from Chinese streets, according to the vice-chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Wang Jinzhen. Like our War on Drugs, the chance of that succeeding is not very high. 'I don't think it will be completely corrected, but still it will be eased,' he said. 'That's good for China and the company and for everyone in the world.' One key reason why companies keep their R&D departments out side of China is because of concern over IP protection. As an engineer, should we wish their effort genuine and successful? Or as your grandma warned you, be careful what you wish for."
The problem with those knock-offs is not so much product copying, but brand copying. E.g. US Superbolt produces quality and strength certified bolts, with a price tag to match. Then Chinabolt produces the same bolts, but sells them at lower price under their own brand. Fine: you know what you buy, you know there is no strength certification, so don't use these bolts when you need such a quality guarantee. That doesn't say Chinabolt's bolts are poor quality - they may be just as strong, they're just not tested and certified to be.
The problem starts when Chinabolt starts selling their bolts in Superbolt look-alike packing, claiming to be guaranteed strong enough, just half price. And that's a problem that should be tackled head-on. You must know what you buy, and currently in China unless you're absolutely sure what you buy is the original (how to be so sure, that's another matter) you'd better assume it's a knock-off.