Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Pirates of the Arabian

Almost every office I’ve worked in has used hooky software, the building here is happy to allow Chinese DVD hawkers to go door to door, and holidaymakers include trips to Karama on their itinerary (my Christmas guest bought four handbags, one watch and a purse). I have friends here who are first name terms with their supplier of fakes, one recently had an order of Paul Smith shirts knocked up for less than 70ds (full retail price: 700ds). And they weren’t bad.

The UAE claims to stringent laws have kept piracy and counterfeiting under control. “While it is a serious matter in the entire Middle East it is not so serious here due to stringent measures and tough laws introduced since the mid-1990s,” Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz Al Shihhi, Planning Sector Undersecretary, tells Emirates Business. “The UAE takes the issue very seriously as it is directly linked to foreign investment.”

This is nonsense. While recognizing there is a big difference between an obviously fake handbag bought from a cheerfully dodgy shop in Karama, and unknowingly buying fake brake pads from an authorized retailer, there is clearly some gap between having laws and implementing them. If you’re happy to let sellers of fake goods continue to trade, don’t be surprised if a culture develops that says fakes are fine.
Counterfeit goods are a global problem, and unfortunately for Dubai, as a transport hub, it suffers more than most. But if the city is to really crack down on the problem, and earn a global reputation for managing this issue, it must crack down on fakes at every turn.
Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York and Republican presidential candidate, faced a similar problem when dealing with drug, crime and prostitution in Time Square. His Zero Tolerance policy cleaned the streets and revived the city’s reputation. Time for Dubai to step up.


2 comments:

Seabee said...

It's the never-ending problem of law enforcement. But then even in law-abiding, strictly controlled Singapore, copy watches are on open display in places like Bugis Market.
Apart from the theft of intellectual rights, the murky figures behind much of the fake product industry is a real concern.
And when it gets into, as you say, motor parts and even more dangerously medication, real effort has to be put into stamping it out.

19thfloordubai said...

agreed. plenty of seemingly law-abiding cities have a problem with fake goods, but i'm not sure it's helpful that dubai has neighborhoods that are notorious for fakes. it doesn't help convey a 'tough on fakes' message.