Knockoff Report

As I do the last few days of every April I was preparing for the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition Spring Meeting. Per my normal routine, I downloaded the agenda and devised a conference plan. I noted that this year, unlike last, the conference had a host: Hitha Prabhakar, author of the new best seller Black Market Billions: How Organized Retail Crime Funds Global Terrorists. In preparation of the possibility of carrying on a conversation with her, I decided to extend her the courtesy of purchasing the book on my favorite book site, audible.com. Don’t laugh. Come on. You didn’t expect a narcissistic guy this hopped up on Starbucks to be able to sit down and actually read a book in three days, did you? Besides, I love listening to non-fiction books.

Black Market Billions began with the author receiving an instant message from a friend offering her handbags for sale at a very attractive price. Knowing that she is a full-time fashion reporter, the friend explained that the items he was selling ’fell off the truck’. What followed was a rabbit hole I was not expecting. Most books that involve the world of counterfeit goods focus on the counterfeit goods industry (makes sense, doesn’t it?), but not this one. In order to set the table properly to explain the role that counterfeit goods play in our society, Prabhakar first takes us deep into the varied world of shoplifting, human trafficking and Organized Retail Crime.

Most of my readers know I grew up in the anti-counterfeiting industry so one may assume I was schooled in all of the ways counterfeit goods are tied to the dark parts of the world’s economy. One would be wrong. I knew all about cargo theft, human trafficking, parallel imports and (of course) product counterfeiting and cybercrime. Although I knew that retail boosting existed, I didn’t know how organized it was and that it is directly tied to the same black market. I know we can watch an episode of reality television to learn something new, but Black Market Billions added a new view to even this easily jaded joker. Early on, she moves right to the ties between counterfeit goods and radical terrorists. Some of these stories were cases I had worked on, so it hit home as closely as it was well-written.

Moving through the chapters, I first was trying to figure out where she was going because the structure was not organized like most books, where there would be claim, evidence, conclusion, rinse, repeat. She told stories of individuals through their eyes and provided case studies with insight into their effect on these individuals. As the book unfolded I felt myself engrossed in a story that I thought I knew but saw it in a different light. Perhaps this insight was partially due to the fact that it was written by a woman. The stories felt personal and the street crime was real as it was woven into the larger picture of Big Fashion.

I recommend this book, not only for those interested in anti-counterfeiting, but anyone who reads true crime or even thrillers. Keep an eye on this author as well. To top it all off, I did end up chatting with her at a party, so my reading it in time was worth it!

Now I’m going to finish my coffee.

Filed under: Views Tagged: Black market, counterfeit, Counterfeit consumer goods, EBay, Gucci, Hitha Prabhakar, intellectualproperty, Starbucks, Washington DC

Monday’s Mantra

Rob Holmes — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:01:01 +0000

Ugg Cracks Down on Counterfeit Boots

Schumer Addresses Wine Industry Worry About Counterfeit Ice Wine

Fake Apple Hardware: 9 Knockoffs That Would Make Jony Ive Cringe

$47M in Counterfeit Goods Seized at Baltimore Flea Market

L.A. Vendor Charged with Selling Counterfeit Designer Accessories

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Unlikely to Become Law, EU Official Says

IP Lawyers Praise Interim Rule Targeting Counterfeit Imports

Houston Men Arrested with $200K Worth of Counterfeit Purses, Clothes, Jewelry

Counterfeit Goods Seized from Rochdale Shop

Bogus Booze Fed to Microbes for Electricity

Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Rally Seeks to Stamp out Knockoff Vendors

Filed under: News Tagged: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, Baltimore, Baltimore Flea Market, Counterfeit consumer goods, European Union, flea market, Internet Protocol, United State

Wednesday’s Wealth

Rob Holmes — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:27:26 +0000

Hermes Wins $100 Million Damages From Counterfeit Websites (This is the Handiwork of Mr. Joseph Gioconda)

Sproxil, Inc. Teams with IBM to Help Consumers, Industry, in the Fight Against Drug Counterfeiting

US Names China, Dozen Other Countries On Intellectual-Property Watchlist

Porn, Piracy and the Internet Culture Wars

IP Lawyers Praise Targeting of Counterfeit Imports

USTR: Streaming Video Is Chinese’s Favorite Piracy Ploy

Online Counterfeit Sales To Overtake Street Vendors

How Hollywood Convinced California’s Senate to Pass a Bill Increasing Piracy Damages

Police seize counterfeit goods at Dr. Flea’s Flea Market in Toronto

Couple Charged With Selling Counterfeit Handbags at Lawrenceville Street Fair

Modesto Connection in Two Guilty Pleas in Separate Counterfeit Media Cases

Business Software Alliance (BSA) Ramps Up Software

Filed under: News Tagged: counterfeit, Counterfeit consumer goods, flea market, IBM, intellectualproperty, piracy, Sproxil, Wikipedia

Why the New gTLDs Don’t Matter

Rob Holmes — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:00:07 +0000

If somebody wanted to name their product or company during the Dot Com Boom they wanted to own the .com. After all, it was the Dot Com Boom, not the Dot Poo Boom. Their second choice was .net, then .org, and so forth. The Web 2.0 generation no longer cared for an accurately-spelled domain at all costs. Flickr, Bit.ly, Scribd, Delicio.us and Instagr.am became the creative norm. Part of this resulted because startups realized it was poor stewardship of their investors’ money to pay for a slick name when the product execution matters most.

Don Draper of Mad Men works on Madison Avenue (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The only reason to buy .poo is if .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .tv, .me, .cc, .ws, .us and .co are already taken and you still think the name would be effective in branding your product or service. When Delicio.us was acquired by Yahoo!, they bought delicious.com. Instagr.am bought instagram.com once it was financially feasible. Virtually the only thing on Instagram’s website is a link to their mobile app. Facebook paid $1 Billion for this company and a website wasn’t even a part of their business model.

We saw what happened with the release of the .xxx gTLD. Nobody in their right mind wanted to be in the ghetto if they could have the prime .com real estate. Even the porn industry preferred to be on Rodeo Drive. I work with companies that defensively purchase domains for their projects but the average budgets are about $10K. If they don’t get the domain at a reasonable price, then oh well. They know owning the .com is a component to their branding process, but not ‘the’ component. Search engine optimization, social media, mobile and execution are far more important. I can’t remember the last time I typed w w w dot anything. I go to my browser’s Google bar, type the brand name and click a result. There is a sucker born every minute. I don’t care who visits knockoffreport.poo. Do you?

Now I’m going to finish my coffee.

Filed under: News Tagged: Domain name, facebook, For Sale or Auction, General Brokers, Generic top-level domain, google, icann, iCrossing, Instagram, Mass Sellers, Name Search, Top-level domain, Web 2.0, Yahoo

Knockoff Report – Monday’s Mayhem

Rob Holmes — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:29:45 +0000

Is There a Canal Street For Knockoff Startups?

‘Purse Lady’ Business Sold Counterfeits; Now Women Face Prison

LA Vendor Indicted For Allegedly Selling Lead-Tainted Counterfeit Handbags

Fake Viagra Dealer Told to Hand Over £14m

‘Angry’ That Vendor Regs Don’t Translate

Filed under: News Tagged: Anti-Countereiting, copyright infringement, Counterfeit consumer goods