Fake Louis Vuitton products seized from duty free shops
Fake Louis Vuitton products seized from duty free shops
JAKARTA (JP): Police have confiscated hundreds of pieces of fake Louis Vuitton leather products from three duty-free shops at Ngurah Rai airport in Bali following complaints from the Paris- based Louis Vuitton Malletier.
Louis Vuitton's local lawyer, P.D.D. Dermawan, said yesterday that the fake articles were seized from the Bali Gift Shop, Anugerah Dewata Shop and Bali Souvenir Shop during a raid held on March 24 by national police in cooperation with Nusa Tenggara police. The confiscated products range from handbags and suitcases to wallets and key holders.
Michel Rames, the Industrial Property Manager of Louis Vuitton Malletier, the company which has the right to use the famous brand name, arrived from Paris to accompany police during the raid, the lawyer said in a statement to The Jakarta Post.
The sale of counterfeited Louis Vuitton leather goods in the Bali duty-free shops has been occurring for almost a year, the lawyer said
Foreign tourists, who bought the fake items, complained that they had been cheated and reported the incidents not only to Louis Vuitton Malletier, but also to Indonesian embassies in their respective countries.
Most of the complaints were from Japanese tourists.
The then Indonesian Ambassador to Japan, Poedji Koentarso, sent a letter to the Administrator of Ngurah Rai airport, dated Aug. 26, 1994, asking for an inquiry into the matter. He said he had also received complaints about fake Chanel products such as scarves and watches.
The Bali governor and the Tourism Office, also asked airport authorities to investigate the case, which has tainted the image of Bali as a tourist destination.
The sale of counterfeited products continued, which compelled Dermawan to send a letter to National Police Chief Gen. Banurusman last year, urging the government to take immediate action.
The United States has put Indonesia, as well as several other countries, on the watch list for rampant intellectual property rights violations in the country.
The Washington DC-based International Intellectual Property Alliance, which recommended Indonesia as a "Priority Foreign Country for 1995", says that the U.S. has suffered an estimated loss of US$154 million due to piracy of motion pictures ($10 million), audio recordings and musical compositions ($12 million), computer programs ($92 million) and books ($40 million) in 1994.
Indonesia revised its copyright law in 1987, and five years later a new trademark law was passed, to give more legal protection in the field of intellectual property rights. But critics say the enforcement of the law is weak.(sim)