But never mind. Both devices are readily available at a plethora of Chinese electronics malls in Beijing, Shanghai and all the major cities, in what constitutes China’s lucrative telecommunications “gray market” that rivals — and in some cases, surpasses — the real thing.

The phones are smuggled from the United States and also from Hong Kong, where both devices are officially on sale. The smuggled iPhone 4 sells in China for $800 to $1,700, depending on the storage size. An iPad with 64 gigabytes goes for about $1,000.

If those prices are too high, Chinese consumers need not fret — there are plenty of fakes on the market, almost indistinguishable from the real thing, from the touch screen to the apps to the iconic silver logo on the back. They are known here as “Shanzhaiji,” which loosely translates as “Mountain Bandit Phones.”

For full article, please see The Washington Post.

Please visit OpSec Security for brand protection solutions.

The perception of discount retailers has changed over the past few years.  Now, more and more, high-end goods appear on these shelves and many  designers have partnered with these stores and produced ready-to-wear lines.  H&M comes to mind when thinking of one of the first chains to bridge the gap between couture and off the rack.  Gap, Target, and K-Mart are also part of this movement.  As I read about the verdict, I began to think of my shopping experiences.  I, as many of the readers out there, happen to love a bargain.  Why not? You save money and feel a sense of accomplishment—you’ve become an educated consumer who makes savvy choices, and your wallet thanks you too.  Since these stores have become a more popular destination for discounted products, we have grown accustomed to the highly reduced prices offered even if it’s from a 2008 collection (most of us are happy to own ‘the best’ regardless of when it hit the runway).  Reminiscing on all the ‘deals’ I’ve acquired, I began to wonder if some of the deals I believed I got was because the item was actually a fake or diverted product.  Come to think of it, a designer skirt I bought a few years back had Japanese writing on the tag—was this a grey market product, intended to be sold in Japan but somehow made its way to the US?  Was I so blinded by price that I purchased diverted goods?

This brings the implications of the Fendi v. Filene’s Basement case full circle.  Consumers do not want to be duped when they believe they are buying from a trusted source, discount retailers do not want to sell counterfeit goods unwittingly, and brand owners want to protect their consumers, image, revenues, and trademarks.

It is quite clear that brands, especially ones with a high percentage of knock-offs like  luxury designers, will make an example of how serious they are about the theft of their intellectual property and trademarks. Coach just recently sued the city of Chicago for knock-off items being sold at flea markets.  The landscape also changes as the presence of many discounted retailers that carry designer goods are actually unauthorized distributors of the products. This convolutes the supply chain and provides one more hole for diverted or counterfeit products to seep in.  It was not proven that Filene’s basement had any knowledge of the fakes being sold but the product was identified definitively as counterfeits.

Keep your eyes peeled for more of these cases to come.  Until next time, case clothesed.

Please visit OpSec Security for anti-counterfeiting and brand protection solutions.

There are two types of gray-market iPhone 4s for sale: the locked U.S. model and an unlocked British version. The locked U.S. models are going for $1,135 to $1,394, while the less-restricted unlocked iPhones start at a hefty $2,168 and go as high as $3,096.

For full article, please see WSJ.com.

Please visit OpSec Security for anti-counterfeiting and brand protection solutions.

On Saturday, Leung and dozens of his friends stood in line at Apple stores around the San Francisco area. “We were limited to buy only two apiece,” he said on Wednesday, toting a suitcase filled with iPads fresh off a plane from San Francisco and ready for resale on the streets of Hong Kong.

All told, he and his friends brought back about 200 iPads for sale in Hong Kong, where stores were selling them for as much as 60 percent higher than their $499 retail price.

For Full Article, please visit CNN.com

In the past five years, counterfeit computer chips, routers, and other electronic products have “become an epidemic,” says PCX Chief Executive Gil Aouizerat. The number of counterfeit electronic products uncovered in the defense industry alone more than doubled in 2008 to 9,356, from 3,868 in 2005, according to a January 2010 report by the Commerce Dept. Fake gear costs the information technology industry an estimated $100 billion a year, according to the National Electronics Distributors Assn.

For full article, please see BusinessWeek

The old adage — if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — rightly portrays Indian consumers’ scepticism about Windows 7, the three-month-old operating system (OS) from Microsoft.

Take the example of Aditya Thakore, an animation designer with a Hyderabad-based multimedia and design studio. Thakore is your quintessential Indian consumer who uses a computer for “basic browsing and office work.” He bought his laptop eight months ago, pre-loaded with Windows Vista. Despite hearing good things about the Win 7 OS, he is not too keen to upgrade. “It won’t make any difference to my usage, will it,” he asks.

For full article, please see Business Standard

Drug companies are increasingly concerned about bogus drugs getting into the legitimate distribution system, potentially posing serious health hazards and undermining the reputation of their products.

The scheme is backed by European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, which hopes it will form the basis of an eventual Europe-wide system.

The new verification system is being tested in conjunction with Swedish pharmaceutical retailer Apoteket and local wholesaler Tamro & Oriola-KD.

For full article, please see Reuters.

The white paper features results gathered from responses to a survey issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers, including executive interviews with AGMA membership and other leading technology companies, further complemented by PwC’s research, insights and experiences. The white paper is a result of collaborative efforts between AGMA and PwC, and is intended to help raise awareness of the issue, as well as offer strategies, programs and effective processes to combat the problem of warranty and service abuse.

For full article, please see Cloud Computing Journal.

BOSTON–OpSec Security, Inc., the global leader in anti-counterfeiting and brand protection, conducted a study to identify the impact of Internet trading platforms and social media web forums on the market launch and distribution of consumer electronics products. By monitoring popular B2C auctions, B2B trade boards, blogs and forums, significant intelligence is gained about the emergence of grey and counterfeit markets surrounding the introduction of a product into the global marketplace.

The study focused on Kindle e-readers and the market launch of Amazon’s DX model introduced on June 10, 2009.

* On launch day, Kindle DXs were already available for purchase on a major B2B trade board from a company located in China
* A sample of 8 seller listings on a popular trade board had an estimated 40,000 Kindles available within a few weeks after the DX launch
* Suspect Kindle knockoffs were found for sale on trade boards and auctions in colors and languages not sold by Amazon
* Consumers used social media forums to share tips on circumventing Amazon’s U.S. only shipping restrictions, including the use of package forwarding companies
* From June through September, an almost three-fold increase of Kindles (1, 2, and DX models) was offered on eBay auctions, with many sellers offering to ship outside the U.S.

Assess Trade Boards and Auctions for Emergence of Counterfeit and Grey Market Activity

The product launch of a highly anticipated consumer electronics product, such as the Kindle DX, presents a challenge to manufacturers desiring to maintain supply chain control in the global market. Even on the day of launch, Kindle DXs were offered for sale on a B2B trade board raising questions on how the product was acquired.

Thousands of Kindle e-readers were available on trade boards from sellers, many offering significant quantities at deeply discounted prices. One seller offered 2,500 Kindle 2 e-readers per week at a unit price of $65, well below the list price of $299. Of 33 B2B listings offering Kindles when the DX launched, 75% of the sellers were located in Indonesia and China.

A grey market quickly grew of auction sellers offering the Kindle DX at premium prices to meet the demands of consumers in regions who could not buy from Amazon. In the four months since the launch, the quantity of Kindles (all models) available on eBay increased almost three-fold from 1,776 units to 5,092 units, including a ten-fold increase for the DX version from 268 units to 2,970 units. In addition, black and Japanese language Kindle knockoffs were found, neither of which are offered by Amazon.

These findings give impetus to the need to monitor e-commerce platforms to identify black and gray market goods entering the supply chain. As shown with the Kindle, B2B and B2C sites can offer counterfeit and diverted products online.

Monitor Social Media for Insights on Product Availability and Consumer Sentiments

The study monitored social media blogs and forums for comments on how to circumvent Amazon’s shipping restrictions for the Kindle. Until the recent announcement of the international Kindle 2 version, Amazon did not ship Kindles outside the U.S.

Consumers shared information about online sellers, recommended vendors, and ways of obtaining Kindles in countries where they were not intended to be sold. Other than the obvious method of ordering through family and friends, a popular strategy was to find an e-Bay seller that shipped internationally. Another popular approach was the use of a forwarding company. This service circumvented Amazon’s restrictions by shipping the product to a U.S. address, and then forwarding it to the buyer’s international address. In addition, the large majority of DX listings were posted at premium prices indicating the willingness of buyers to pay extra. Consumer demand has been fueled by Amazon’s announcement of stock outs and delayed shipments just weeks after launch, and also by interest for the new DX model in other parts of the world.

The findings from social media supported insights gained from e-commerce monitoring on product availability and distribution. For the Kindle e-reader, Internet intelligence provided strategic insights on demand from international buyers and the growth of the grey market.

Use Internet Intelligence to Understand Product Distribution in the Global Supply Chain

The growth of the Internet as a global marketplace and a worldwide user community means that future product launches of consumer electronics will be accompanied by the rapid emergence of grey and counterfeit markets. Buyers and sellers use the Internet to purchase and promote products, thereby establishing a market for distributing unauthorized and counterfeit goods. Combining market intelligence from e-commerce platforms and social media enables companies to more quickly and effectively respond to emerging threats of counterfeit and gray market goods in the global supply chain.

About OpSec

OpSec Security, Inc. is a wholly-owned division of OpSec Security Group plc (London AIM: OSG). OpSec Security is the global leader in providing anti-counterfeiting technologies, as well as solutions and services for physical and online brand protection, to over 300 brand owners and over 50 governments worldwide. The Group operates manufacturing facilities and laboratories in the USA and the UK, and has sales operations in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. For more information, please see www.opsecsecurity.com, or contact Terri Mock, +1-617-226-3000, or tmock@opsecsecurity.com.

Maria Matias was speaking at a meeting in Parliament on Making Patient Safety a Priority, organised by Aegate, the UK-based company that supplies a pharmacy-level authentication system to sift out counterfeit drugs from the legitimate supply chain.

While the proposed directive released in December 2008 addressed key points of vulnerability in the legal supply chain, the Commission left internet trade to the discretion of the member states, placing it in the wider context of whether national governments allowed sales of prescription medicines online. The issue had already been raised by Adamos Adamou, the previous ENVI rapporteur before the European parliamentary elections last June.

For full article, please see PharmaTimes.