Copyright infringement

BANGALORE: When you order a MickeyMouse cake for your kid''s birthday, chances are that bakery which makes themcould be hauled up for copyright infringement of Walt Disney''scharacters.Copyright infringement is becoming a serious issue thesedays. It is no longer having that ''chalta hai'' attitude, where the manufacturersdecide to look the other way when fake products, carrying their logo are findingtheir way into the market. Walt Disney is one of the few companies that isactually sitting up and taking notice of this. A couple of yearsago, two leading chains, Kids Kemp in Bangalore and Sheetal in Mumbai, wereinvestigated and there was an out-of-court settlement, ranging from Rs 5-10crore, according to sources.Recently, a wholesaler in Kolkata wasarrested for ''importing'' colourful towels with the bright and lively images ofDonald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Pluto or Litte Mermaid. "These towels come in fromChina and are sold for about Rs 25 whereas a genuine Walt Disney licence holderlike Bombay Dyeing would be retailing a similar towel for Rs 250 onwards," saysa Delhi-based investigator specialising in copyright infringement cases, HemantShah."Unfortunately, no company is willing to go to court forindictment. Everyone prefers an out-of-court settlement because nobody wants anykind of publicity -- and it does affect the company. Say, for instance, Soap Xis a very popular soap and if is widely exposed in press and on TV thatduplicate products exist, every consumer will have that lingering doubt whetherhe or she is buying an original or fake product," says a managing director of aDelhi-based security, Tops, Aneel Khanna.Interestingly Microsoft isyet another company that is hiring private investigators to handle theirwidespread Windows pirated copies -- but again whenever a dealer is caught, itis invariably an under-the-table kind of settlement.Surprisingly,the Censor Board is also hiring a team of investigators for copyrightinfringement and abuse. " There are a number of movies, when they go through thecensor board a number of shots, bordering on pornography, are removed. But, thenthere are many theatres in the cities and outskirts that are not really deletingthese parts and playing the movies," says a private investigator. One drag of a `Benson & Hedges'' cigarette, Sharad bursts outcoughing. Sometimes after one wash a ''Peter England'' shirt looks real washedout. Or a ''Titan'' or an ''Omega'' watch may not be a genuine Titan or an Omega --they look the same but one thing for sure you cannot take it to a servicecentre.Fake products are doing the rounds and this time, themanufacturers of fake and spurious products are getting quite smart -- they areproducing good quality fakes, which are quite difficult to makeout.Among cigarettes, unless you buy them at a reputed outlet,chances are that you will be smoking a fake one. "There are four qualities inBenson & Hedges and the price ranges from Rs 40-60. Most of the time, thefake products are good and come with a lower price tag of course, but sometimesthey really goof up, " says a private investigator.In Bangalore,when you visit Chickpet, you will discover small shops that sell you brandedshirts, ranging from Madura Garments to Gap and Hilfiger. "Most of time, thefactory that manufactures the tags and buttons, labels produces these in excessand sells them stealthily to other smaller firms, which use them alongwith alook alike material and sell fake shirts. We sell at a much lower price and sellthem. And, because some of the products are good, we have regular customers too,apart from just walk-ins," says a shop keeper in Chickpet.The samegoes for watches, detergents, soaps and toothpastes, liquor ( Johnny Walkermainly), not to talk about DVDs and VCDs of course, where piracy is rampant.In Kolkatta, watch dials are the manufactured with great care. Themovement mechanisms, which form the inner part of the watches are all imported(which again are fake from Korea, Japan and China), assembled here and sold asTag Hauer or a Omega. "But the fake products guys here cannot beatthe ones in China and Hong Kong. There are Gucci watches sold in Singapore at Rs70 per watch (the original ones are upwards of Rs 25,000) and nobody can makeout it is a fake. And, no Indian fake manufacturer can match that price andquality," says Nelson Dias of Altair Engineering, who travels a lot and claimsto make out a fake watch.Amritsar, Ludhiana and Rajkot are alsogreat places for fake products, starting from tools (Gedor) to auto componentsand you get almost everything there, which looks great but may not work well,says another dealer who deals only in fakes in Bangalore.Butsometimes, the truth is coughed up as in the case of the B&H fake cigarette.