Fakes, Coming to a Store Near You

fishdan writes to tell us that while most Slashdotters have their own trusted sources for gear there is a growing concern that all consumers should look out for. According to PC World, more and more counterfeit hardware is coming to market each year. From the article: '...batteries aren't the only tech item that counterfeiters love. In October 2004, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in Anchorage, Alaska, seized 20,000 suspected fake Memorex USB memory key thumb drives from Asia. And last year, Miami officials seized 900 allegedly phony laptops valued at $700,000. "Maybe it's a laptop, an MP3 player, or a component like a DVD drive--anything in the digital world can be counterfeited," says Therese Randazzo, a U.S. Customs Service counterfeiting expert.'"

Wow I'm glad he's an "expert"

[Anonymous Coward]

"Maybe it's a laptop, an MP3 player, or a component like a DVD drive--anything in the digital world can be counterfeited," says Therese Randazzo, a U.S. Customs Service counterfeiting expert.'"

Last time I checked there captain obvious anything in the analog world can be counterfeited as well. Basically anything can be counterfeited. If this guy counts as an expert I'd hate to see a n00b.

Yeah except it costs the same

[SmallFurryCreature]

If I get a item that is 50% less for 50% of the cost I basically get the same deal. However if I buy a nokia battery that normally sells for 100 and instead accidently buy a fake for 80 and it then explodes I might feel that it is not such a good deal.

Yeah "fakes" can work. In a way the PC your sitting behind right now is a "fake". Unless your a rich bastard sitting behind a IBM or Apple machine.

This article is however not about those kind of fakes. It is where the buyer presumes he is buying the real deal often for the real price. That is not good.

Same with software, you can hold a lengthy argument about software piracy but when I pay full price for a software package I would expect to get a real offical copy.

By all means, make cheap memory or hd or mp3 players but don't try to pass it of as a superior product and charge the same money.

Re:I don't get it

[Pieroxy]

The biggest problem (IMHO) is loss of revenue, for one, and decrease in perceived value from the brand. If I buy a fake SONY DVD player and it is crap, I will think SONY DVD's are crap. This is why they fight these guys as much.

A battery exploding, while problematic, does not really impact the company being faked in a direct fashion. And they hold the stick for repression.

They just use the battery explosions as a banner to say "Hey, we are not evil and fighting for our beloved revenue. We fight for customer protection."
--
George Herriman's Krazy Kat [ignatzmouse.net]

Re:Cheap fake or the real thing?

[xodonex]

As the article shows, not all cheap fakes work equally well. Some fakes, however, work so well that nobody find out that they're fake. Therein lies the whole problem: as a consumer, there is no effective method of discriminating the fake from the genuine before you buy - but afterwards it may be too late (defect product, no service).

Re:Cheap fake or the real thing?

[ddx Christ]

Uh, slow down partner.

This isn't talking about cheap fakes. Instead, you're getting unreliable fakes for the brand price. You're getting ripped off twice as much. That's not good at all, no matter what spin you put on it. I think you're confusing this with just getting stuff dirt cheap from China. The article focuses on the fakes commonly being put in place of the real goods.

Re:I don't get it

[ezzzD55J]

it might just be me, but i've suspected cellphone companies doing their part in spreading FUD about cheap(er) clones.

Re:I don't get it

[MichaelSmith]

but i've suspected cellphone companies doing their part in spreading FUD about cheap(er) clones.

Just like car makers selling "genuine parts".

Re:Windows

[The Clockwork Troll]

Nope, that is the Windows Genuine Advantage.

Not a major consumer issue

[martinmcc]

I don't see this as being a major issue for consumers - so long as you shop at places you trust. It is up-to the retailer to ensure they are buying the ligitimate goods, not for the buyer (how is run of the mill guy going to know how to tell the difference?).

You buy from a respectable outlet, and you use the product. If it fails, you bring it back to get it replaced. If they discover its a conterfeit, you get it replaced with the real thing (or sue if they are not forthcoming). Issue lies between outlet and supplier, not consummer and outlet.

There is the issue pointed out that things may go boom, but I think this is over hyped. Counterfeits arn't the only thing that go boom, and again, so long as it is a tracable outlet (i.e. not the back of a van) you get it replaced or sue for damages depending on how much of a boom.

As always - you want to buy cheap from the back of a van, you run the risk of getting malfunctioning crap and money down the drain. You buy from a reputable retailer, you still run the risk of getting malfunctioning crap, but you also you get the protection of the law if it goes pear shaped.

Counterfeit Hardware

[Anonymous Coward]

I think counterfeit hardware could be the next stage in trojans and viruses.

For instance, imagine you buy a wireless router from ebay, which the seller has pre-installed with trojan firmware and comes with a packet sniffer, bulk mailing software pre-installed, ftp server, password grabber etc. The best part is, most people trust their routers implicitly so don't bother checking them from the outside world. Some people then disable their software firewalls once they have a router available.

Another great idea would be a network printer with a trojan payload.

Re:I don't get it

[terminal.dk]

I agree. It is a problem. When the handle on the Louis Vuitton bag breaks, you can lose way more than a cell phone. Maybe your digital camera, video camera, and $2000 laptop all dies.

There is a reason to buy quality, and to be aware that a brand name does not necessarily mean quality.

In Denmark we had a case. A supermarket was selling "counterfeit" Puma shoes. The only difference between the cheap Puma and the full price Puma was, that the manufacturer had lost his Puma contract, but was still producing the same shoes.

Go for quality rather than brand names.

The best color you can buy is usually last year's :)

Re:Cisco is plagued by counterfeits

[gregorio]

A Cisco dual channel T1 controller, part VWIC-2MFT-T1 is $2,000 new list price. A small reseller will pay 70% of list or about $1,400 for it in distribution, while a large reseller might only pay $1,100 or so. Below we see a tinyurl link to an Ebay auction for a new boxed unit at only $227 or 11.3% of list price. I guarantee if you contact the seller you can get six dozen of them for the same price.

Maybe because most Cisco's products are just cheap versions of industry standard hardware designs. This card is mostly a cheap-ass FPGA with a small associated analog circuitry. I bet the counterfeiters don't even need to copy Cisco's firmware (probably licensed from some cheap-ass chinese company), as most T1-related signal processing algorithms can be licensed for free or just real cheap.

Any chinese company can build this kind of product, as the related technologies (and component prices) can be complex as manufacturing an ADSL modem.

But that's Cisco TODAY. Back in The Day when the components and technologies necessary to build a T1 signal interface were really expensive, their prices at least made some sense. Today the amount of signal processing necessary for a full-featured ADSL modem is larger than for this kind of communications card.

Today's Cisco is just a seller of overpriced commodity hardware.

The Only Way to Break Into A Business

[cyberscan]

Unfortunately, fakes are the only way for a new business with limited sources of cash to break into an old product line. With all of the "parnerships" between advertisers, labor organizations, governments, and retail stores, a small company which produces a product that is also produced by the big players will have a hard time seeing their product appear on the shelves of stores like Wal-Mart and Target.

Because people are a lot like lemmings, they will spend vast amounts of money on a pair of shoes simply because they have a checkmark (Nike) on them while disregarding a brand that is cheaper and better quality. Rather than looking at the material and construction of a product, most people buy based on what people on TV or the magazines are wearing. If one can afford to buy a blessing from Madison Avenue, they do not need to conterfeit.

U.S. Critical Vulnerability

[cyberscan]

Where are many critical electronic parts for computers, automobiles, military weapontry, and other important devices for America manufactured? The simple answer is the "Peoples Republic" of China. How many of these devices have "trojans" or sabatage circuitry embedded in intergrated circuits themselves? We may never find out (Hopefully). I can picture the day when the world grows tired of accepting worthless paper (dollars or Federal Reserve Notes) as "payment" for tangible goods. I can also picture the day that the "People's Republic" of China decides to annex Tiawan by force. All they have to do is wait for or cause a certain condition to occur, such as a specific date, or a certain code to pass over wires, or even a specific signal to be transitted. The "trojan" circuitry picks up the signal and disables the device. A couple of lines of code or a few transistors can throw a real monky wrentch into the functionality of a device. How could the U.S. stop the invasion of Taiwan when its electronic infrastructure has been disabled? I'm sure that the U.S. government has investigated this option when it permitted American telephone equipment manufacturers to export equipment to Eastern Bloc countries before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Now, the tables are turned, and America depends on foriegn counties and companies for its electronic infrastructure.

Re:Not all trademark infringements are so serious

[LarsG]

Memorex buys Beijing 'Chung Brand' USB stick and sells it labelled as made by Memorex.
Fred Bloggs buys Beijing 'Chung Brand' USB stick and sells it labelled as made by Memorex.

1. The person who buys Fred Bloggs stick is being deceived, because it's not Memorex.
2. But then so is the person who buys Memorex because it's really 'Chung Brand'.

From what I've been told, it doesn't work quite like that. That the sticks come from the same factory does not mean that they have the same quality.

1) Memorex does a contract with 'Chung Mfg. Co', asking them to produce USB sticks according to certain specs (quality, price, etc). Checking that the sticks are of sufficient quality is either done by 'Chung Mfg. Co' according to the contract, or by Memorex after purchase. The important thing is - Memorex is guaranteeing the quality by putting their name on them, and know that they can't sell low grade goods without damaging the brand value.

2) 'Chung Mfg. Co' sells surplus sticks to the general market. These might be just the same quality as those sold to Memorex, lower quality that can't be sold to Memorex or straight off the production line with no quality check (the general/grey market probably pays less than Memorex, so 'Chung Mfg. Co' is likely to cut costs somehow, perhaps by doing less testing or using lower grade raw materials). When buying one of these in the store - whether 'no-name' or mislabelled as Memorex - noone is guaranteeing the quality.

You also have:

3) 'Less known company' buys surplus sticks cheap from 'Chung Mfg. Co', does their own quality testing (probably less than Memorex, to keep costs down) and sell them as 'Less known brand' USB sticks.

4) 'Well known company' does the same as (3), but instead of selling the sticks under the 'Well known brand' label, they sell them under the 'Less known subsidiary of well known company brand' label.