Build the nation, don’t buy counterfeit goods!

Bryan Habana, Jake White and John Smit celebrate victory.

The Rugby World Cup has come and gone and we at Adams & Adams are extremely proud of our boys and what they have achieved both for rugby and for the nation.

In the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup and in the spirit of nation-building, it seemed that everyone in South Africa wanted to wear a Springbok jersey, and if the press reports are to be believed, many would go to any lengths to get one – including buying a counterfeit.

The resultant trade in counterfeit shirts has raised much debate, with many people suggesting that this is not a serious infringement of anyone’s rights and that purchasing a counterfeit shirt and showing one’s patriotism to our heroes is part of nation-building.

If only it was that simple.

In South Africa counterfeiting is seen as a serious crime which carries sentences of imprisonment of up to three years per item seized and/or a fine of R5000 per item on a first offence. On a second offence, it goes up to five years and/or R10 000 per item.

Scenes after the Rugby World Cup final.

And so, you may say, surely wearing and buying a counterfeit shirt cannot hurt anyone? Well actually it can. By supporting this trade in counterfeit goods, you encourage other counterfeiters to enter the market. In this environment, no trademark rights will be protected and we can be assured that with no protection of intellectual property rights, the incentive to invest in South Africa will disappear. In addition, if we cannot guarantee protection of intellectual property rights, FIFA would be within their rights to give serious consideration to South Africa as a venue for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As a nation we need this type of investment. Each one of us can ensure that it happens.

Furthermore, the counterfeiters definitely do not create their wares in factories which comply with ethical standards of production or labour conditions. Because what they are doing is illegal and they know it, they do not declare their business operations to SARS, so no revenue and taxes are collected.

The genuine article.

As counterfeiters, they are also quite happy to cut corners in terms of product standards. So your shirt will probably shrink after the first wash, or worse it may contain toxic and non-permitted dyes, which may cause serious skin allergies. And if this occurs who will you blame? Probably the authorised manufacturer, whose reputation will suffer unjustifiably as a result of the counterfeit. Who will you be able to claim from for your suffering? Certainly not the authorised shirt manufacturer!

Lastly, have you ever stopped to think where the money that you hand over at the street corner to a street vendor for a counterfeit product goes? The vendor may get a tuppence, but most of it goes into crime bosses’ pockets. As you do not see it a serious crime, they are happy to take your money and may well spend it on other criminal activities. There is international evidence that counterfeit earnings have been used to support terrorist organisations, drug dealers, gun runners and the like.

Would you ordinarily want to support these people? I am sure not, but every time you buy a counterfeit, you buy into crime. You become part of the problem and not the solution. With your seemingly “innocent purchase”, you destroy, rather than build a nation.