Cheap 'branded' items available at factory outlets
Cheap 'branded' items available at factory outlets
By Hera Diani
JAKARTA (JP): Factory outlets have become very popular among
shopping freaks in this country.
It refers to a store where you can buy branded clothes, shoes
and other fashion accessories at prices much lower than at
official counters.
How is that possible?
The products are said to be surplus export products or
rejected items. The labels have usually been cut, although many
are still left on the clothes.
However, many suspect that the products at factory outlets are
counterfeit.
One such person is lawyer George Widjojo, who once represented
Adidas in a product counterfeiting case.
"If the products are surplus, then how come the quality is
much lower than the original? The difference is really obvious,"
he told The Jakarta Post by telephone on Thursday.
A DKNY shirt, which costs hundreds of thousands of rupiah at
an official outlet, for example, is available for less than Rp
50,000 (US$4.16).
Yongki Dwi Subagyo, general manager of Link Stok which has
several stores in the capital, denied that the products were
counterfeit.
"We have a factory in Cileungsi, Bogor, which exports clothes
to the United Kingdom. Surplus products and seconds are sold here
in our shops with permission from the license holder in the UK,"
he told the Post.
However, Yongki admitted that there were many producers who
used leftover export fabrics to make their products.
"They then sew them and put well-known brands on them," he
said.
Such a practice is indeed counterfeiting and is a copyright
violation, but so far there have been no lawsuits filed regarding
violations.
According to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights'
director general for intellectual property rights, A. Zen Umar
Purba, so far there have been no complaints from license holders
about products being copied and sold at factory outlets.
"Therefore, we can't do anything. It's not that we encourage
such practices, but if there are no complaints, we can't do
anything," he told the Post on Tuesday.
"You see, intellectual property rights are private rights, not
public. So it depends on the owner, whether they file a complaint
or a lawsuit or not," he added.
Purba said that many companies were reluctant to file suit as
the legal process would burden them and cost them a lot.
"It's common in the United States, for example. Some license
holders there let products, such as perfume, be distributed with
the same brand and packaging as their products. They claim the
targeted market is different anyway," he asserted.
That several companies were reluctant to comment on the matter
when contacted verifies Purba's claims.
"So far, we haven't found any copyrights violations of our
products," said a manager at PT Great River International who
declined to be named.
Great River is a license holder for 30 brands such as Arrow,
Triumph and Lee, which can be easily found at lower prices at
factory outlets.
When asked about this, the manager refused to comment, saying
she had no authority to do so.
Meanwhile, Chris Helzer, external affairs director for
Southeast Asia region at Nike Inc., said that the company had
found fake Nike products in virtually every country around the
world.
"Companies like Nike are hurt because consumers that purchase
counterfeit products are defrauded," he said when contacted via
e-mail.
Nike, he added, invests a great deal to develop the products
and if the items are copied, they cannot get an adequate return
on the investment.
Helzer did not elaborate on whether the company planned to
take legal measures, but said "we hope to work together with all
parties to stop counterfeiting activities".
Separately on Thursday, Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri
also expressed concern over intellectual property rights
violations, which she said had resulted in big losses.
In a written statement marking International Intellectual
Property Rights Day on Thursday, Megawati acknowledged that law
enforcement was still poor.
"There has to be breakthrough steps in overcoming the problem.
We also need a solid intellectual property rights system," she
said as quoted by Antara.
The system, she added, is not only important for law
enforcement but also to improve economic growth.
For consumers, however, factory outlets are a savior in times
of economy crisis when everything appears expensive.
Desy, 27, is a regular customer at a factory outlet because of
the prices.
"The quality of some products may not be that good. They
sometimes shrink or get bigger after washing, but most of them
are OK," she said.
And for many other customers, the most important thing is they
can enjoy "branded" products, the originals of which are out of
their price range. (hdn)