It's (almost) fun to poke fun at pathetic knockoffs with misspelled brand names and such -- awhile back Dan Stern sent me screen shots of some particularly laughable spams he got advertising knockoff HID bulbs.
But there's worse. Most kinds of cockroaches scurry and go away when you shine light on them. Counterfeiters, on the other hand, form
trade associations that engage in lobbying and propaganda campaigns. Result: it becomes very difficult to get your car fixed back to its original condition, at least under insurance, because these companies and their trade associations trumpet their bogus "certifications" and repeat their lies about "OEM quality" loud enough and often enough that the insurance and car repair industries, and consumers, come to believe it. That way the counterfeiters don't have to worry about an image problem or a bad reputation or doubt and uncertainty among potential buyers. Cheap knockoffs are still substandard, inferior counterfeit parts whether or not the fraud their makers commit includes unauthorized use of a registered trade name or trademark.
And that's not the only kind of fraud these counterfeiters engage in, either (I guess once you're doing one kind of fraud, why not do more...) Below is from an article about 13 months ago:
Taiwanese lighting supplier TYC Brother Industrial and their American distributor Genera Corporation are floating a $25-million deal to end ongoing US legal pursuit of a long-running price-fixing conspiracy. The conspiracy to artificially inflate prices and reduce supplies involved most of the major Chinese and Taiwanese aftermarket vehicle lighting makers, including Depo/Maxzone, Eagle Eyes Traffic Industrial, and Sabry Lee/E-Light. If the deal is accepted, TYC will be the final conspirator to settle. A jury trial was soon to begin when the settlement offer was filed.
Price-fixing is a competition-distorting agreement between two or more parties to charge a certain price for comparable products. It is widely illegal in the developed world. In previous phases of the litigation, Eagle Eyes paid a $5-million criminal fine and a $3-million civil fine, Depo/Maxzone—who have previously been prosecuted for price-fixing—paid $43 million in criminal fines and $25 million in civil fines, and Sabry Lee paid $200,000 and $450,000, respectively. TYC brought the illegal collusion to the attention of the US Department of Justice, thus earning a whistleblower amnesty shield against paying triple damages as provided by the applicable US law, but this past August a US Federal Judge cancelled the TYC amnesty on findings that TYC had misrepresented facts, withheld and delayed information, and otherwise not fully cooperated with the investigation.
The settlement deal would see direct purchasers of TYC/Genera lighting components receive $23 million in cash and $2 million in product credits—a figure more than double the recovery rate for the nearest other settling accused party, and amounting to 12.6% of TYC's sales to class members during the timespan of the conspiracy.
Also if you're on LinkedIn, login and check out
this discussion (another send from Stern).
It takes a Mcnair to stand up for alkalines.
