One in Five Mobile Phones Shipped Abroad Are Phoney (theregister.co.uk) 60
Nearly one-fifth of mobile phones and one-quarter of video game consoles shipped abroad are fake, according to a report by the the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Register adds: The Trade in Counterfeit ICT Goods report, published ahead of the 2017 OECD Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum this month, identified a growing trend in fake goods. Smartphone batteries, chargers, memory cards, magnetic stripe cards, solid state drives and music players are also increasingly falling prey to counterfeiters. On average, 6.5 per cent of global trade in ICT goods is in counterfeit products, according to analysis of 2013 customs data, that is up from 2.5 per cent of overall traded goods found to be fake in a 2016 report. China is the primary source of fake ICT goods, and US manufacturers are the worst affected by lost revenue and erosion of brand value, the report said. Almost 43 per cent of seized fake ICT goods infringe the IP rights of US firms, followed by 25 per cent for Finnish firms and 12 per cent for Japanese firms.
I'm surprised that it's only 20% (Score:5, Interesting)
When I was at RIM a few years ago, I was amazed at the number of different infringing products that came in through active searches of problem products.
In terms of handsets, they ranged from cheap look alikes to incredibly similar "Blueberry" products (seriously, that was the name stamped with the RIM logo on the phone). For accessories (the group I was in), batteries, headphones marked as RIM products ranged from very good to better than the company was producing. There were some proprietary features (ie recognition circuitry) that should have been proprietary that were very expertly faked.
I don't know how a global brand can combat this (and I'd be curious to see any ideas on how it could be done).
I'm surprised it is not shipped from abroad (Score:2)
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Are there really lots of US fake phone manufacturers shipping abroad...or is the problem that of fake phones shipped _from_ abroad?
One of the problems with the written word is it is subject to mis-interpretation by readers. I agree that the OP could have created a more concise and unambiguous headline, but it's also true that there is more than one way to interpret the words he did use.
One, as you did, might interpret it to mean that the fake phones "were shipped abroad", that is, from here to there.
Another, as probably the poster intended, was to indicate that the fake phones "were shipped abroad", as in they originated somewhere offs
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So we just keep killing people? Because when you kill one billionaire another person becomes a billionaire. and the more you kill the faster it happens.
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So we just keep killing people? Because when you kill one billionaire another person becomes a billionaire. and the more you kill the faster it happens.
So, you're saying if we keep killing the billionaires, then the natural outcome is sooner or later, you and I become billionaires?
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Until the horde jobbed with murdering us "rich folk" comes to lynch us..
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Well there are ways of combating it, but it comes back to DRM.
With accessories, it's a bit of a lost cause for chargers, but everything else can move to Bluetooth and USB-C and have the problem solved by doing a quick authentication. This is essentially what companies have been doing ever since Nintendo and it's lockout chip. You do a quick authentication to see if the other device says it's legitimate (basically the NES lockout chip just a form of entropy counting to a common clock) and then you push an in
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These phones come from the same factories, the same workers, the same machines. Not paying the marketing fee is a pure win. In the past, the "non-counterfeit" products could at least claim to have superior quality control, but that has long since been sacrificed on the altar of profits (checking whether the product isn't utter shit vs an extra boat for an executive -- easy choice). Thus, fuck brands.
Unrelated: the Stylish snippet needed since yesterday is:
@-moz-document domain("slashdot.org") {
article[cl
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This is not true at all.
Most of the counterfeits out there are QA fails that were supposed to be discarded, or a factory overproduced the parts, and some other factory inserted the guts of one device into the shell of another. (Look up some counterfeit hard drives, you'll get a laugh out of the 2.5" drive when taken apart is just a 4GB sd card and a paperweight.)
Depending on which items you're talking about, counterfeits range from bad, to "almost passable". With phones, they're always "bad", but the access
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I knew it! (Score:3, Funny)
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Counterfeit vs. Fake (Score:5, Insightful)
If the product really behaves as what it's being sold as, it's a counterfeit. If it doesn't, it's an outright fake. I once bought a micro SD card that turned out to be fake (it failed, and then the company said the serial number wasn't valid). When buying phone batteries on eBay, I expect them to be counterfeit. They've always worked, though I don't have any good way of telling if the mAh ratings were real.
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If the product really behaves as what it's being sold as, it's a counterfeit. If it doesn't, it's an outright fake. I once bought a micro SD card that turned out to be fake (it failed, and then the company said the serial number wasn't valid). When buying phone batteries on eBay, I expect them to be counterfeit. They've always worked, though I don't have any good way of telling if the mAh ratings were real.
However the collary to this is that there is a difference between "fake" and "not genuine".
Many non-genuine products are just missing a brand. Bosch make oil filters for a number of auto manufacturers. The only difference between a Bosch filter and a Genuine BMW filter is that the Genuine BMW filter has a brand sticker and a huge markup. Its the same with many ICT products. Quite often the parts you buy were made in the same factory, sold off as excess and resold at a lower price than genuine components.
For some products, it's impossible NOT to buy fake (Score:5, Insightful)
When I replaced the battery in my Nexus 4 a few years back, I was convinced that _everything_ available was a fake (despite them all touting their "ORIGINAL", "GENUINE", "OEM", etc. status).
I'd have paid 40$ or so for something from a clearly official source, but ended up having to settle for a 10$ China-shipped fake.
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I think 18650 batteries on Amazon are like this.
The only place I seem to be able to buy ones that seem to have the right capacity and discharge curve is the e-cigarette shop, the Amazon ones work but seem off somehow.
followed by 25 per cent for Finnish "firms" (Score:2)
Finish firms? You mean, aside from Nokia and their licensed pals (Like HMD, staffed by ex-Nokians) there are more finnish firms in this list? ;-)
I mean, the submission is about Mobile phones, henceforth my curiosity.
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There are other smaller companies who own certain mobile related hardware patents, for example Twig(former Benefon) but they have no means to pursue infringements.
most almost 100% copyphone is samsung now. (Score:2)
plenty of finnish brands are no longer finnish though. I presume the 25 is just nokia, angry birds and clash of clans. based on living in asia. Marimekko isn't getting infringed that much. h&m is(amazingly). Nokia recently not that much either.
Samsung is the most counterfeited mobile phone manufacturer as such though. The copy the box and everything.
HTC they will sell you a refurbished and reflashed one as a new phone(returns from euro market resold in asian market as new). I am not entirely sure how mu
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to play games? lol you shouldnt be forced to have the internet to play games.
Free global markets != wonderful thing (Score:1)
When politicians talk about the pros of free global markets (at their puppetmasters' whims), they don't
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"atheist nation like China" ? or do you mean they don't believe in patents and copyright in the same way as the USA would like them to.
Don't worry, just as soon as they have a patent portfolio large enough to use as a weapon in international trade disputes they'll find the faith. Lets see how long america keeps the faith after that point.
Or do you mean that people of faith are more trust worthy? Cute.
Re: Atheist [Re:Free global markets != wonde (Score:4, Informative)
Hogwash! For one, China is largely Buddhist (or variations of), not atheist.
Second, the USA started off industrialization in a similar poorly-regulated dog-eat-dog kind of way. Europe used to rib us about it. Poor people take more risks because they have less to lose. Read about "Muck Rakers". Tape-worm eggs were sold as diet medicine, for example, and nobody did anything about it.
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I can not find what youre talking about. Can you link please.
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Tape worms? Below is an article. Some researchers say the claims are dubious and that ads or labels mentioning tape-worms don't necessarily mean the pills actually contained tape-worm eggs. It could be a lie. But the fact some co's openly advertised it itself suggests lax regulation.
http://www.philly.com/philly/b... [philly.com]
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Seeing as I cant find that in any reputable source, im still going to take that with a grain of salt. and from what the story youre showing says the early 20th century didnt have a lot of too many "regulations" Im going to take this with a grain of salt, and not believe this until I can atleast find more information on it.
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Our nation started out with very few Federal regulations on food, safety, and medicine. It was either assumed to be a state-level issue, or lawsuits were assumed to be the proper way to settle disputes between consumers and suppliers.
As mass manufacturing and cross-state commerce picked up, this gradually changed, often based on cases of nefarious practices. For example, law-makers realized it's not practical for the average consumer to test all their purchased food for pesticide residue.
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That still doesn't prove that any of that actually happened. Probably a wives tale of the time. As I said that article you linked is the only thing I can find on it and it's not real interesting so I'm not going to invest hours trying to find if to true or not.
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Hogwash! For one, China is largely Buddhist (or variations of), not atheist.
Buddhism is by definition, atheist. Atheism is the absence of belief in a god (opposite of Theism, the belief in god or gods). Buddhism does not contain a god or higher power that controls everything. Buddhism is about the universe responding to what you do, whether you're resurrected as a higher or lower being depends on how you've lived your life, not what $_.Skyman allegedly says (lets ignore that every single one of his directives was written by the hand of man).
Buddha was a man who, according to Buddhism, achieved enlightenment. Buddha does not control or influence from beyond the point of enlightenment and it's the goal of Buddhists to reach the same level of enlightenment. Buddhists religious texts are treated more like guides than unquestionable directives.
Buddhism is not the only major religion to be atheist, and despite being rather non-authoritative compared to theist religions they have also been abused by those in power. That being said, I'd much rather sit next to a devout Buddhist than a devout Christian. Unwelcome proselytising is not the done thing for Buddhists (its a personal journey and all that). Buddhist being atheist is about the only thing the GGP got right though.
Second, the USA started off industrialization in a similar poorly-regulated dog-eat-dog kind of way. Europe used to rib us about it. Poor people take more risks because they have less to lose. Read about "Muck Rakers". Tape-worm eggs were sold as diet medicine, for example, and nobody did anything about it.
It wasn't just the USA, Europe was pretty messy too although we did it earlier than the US. The thing is, for Europe this was well over 100 years ago where we used kids to clean smoke stacks. For China, there are many people who remember when Mao told them to make steel in their back yards (which resulted in massive amounts of pig iron, which is too brittle for most applications requiring steel). Much like Europe and the US, China's middle class are rising.
That's not very good (Score:2)
They should all be phone-y.
Seems fishy (Score:3)
Surprise? (Score:1)
The PRC had a fake Apple Store selling knock-offs of Apple products with fake Apple employees who did not know they worked for Apple. Is anyone surprised when it is common knowledge that many of the facilities in the PRC that make this stuff often run between shifts where they use the same lines to make knock offs and that if a Chinese company wants something and has the juice in the CPC you better give it to them or your workers strike or you have a fire at the factory.
Does anyone remember when IBM actual
Its not a fake... (Score:1)
It's an iPhoney
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ah say!, It's r iPhoney, suuun, a play orn wurds, ah say, a jowke
ah made a funny suun and yor not laffing.....de de de de de de de dooo dah doo dah
Oh, I get it ! (Score:2)
Phones / phoney - very clever play on words. My phone is very 'phoney'; it can make and receive calls all day long, but I prefer no calls when I'm sleeping. I feel bad for people whose phones are not phoney. But maybe they are satisfied if they do texts and Twittey.
Well, so they work? (Score:2)
Good for them then. Probably cheaper and better localized than official Apple and Samsung.
Old News but thanks for the reminders ... (Score:2)
[Old News but thanks for the reminders] ... since some people haven't got the memo, and then there are those that love the counterfeits simply because they are cheaper.
This is an old problem, going on since before China became a manufacturing centre (ie prior to the Special Economic Zone creation of the late 1990's, and the full liberalization of enterprise in 2005 ... yes, it's only been 15 years since China didn't make squat besides t-shirts).
The IEEE and AES have been warning about counterfeit semiconduc