"EIPR is not a raid conducting party"

Enforcers of Intellectual Property Rights (EIPR), an agency involved in looking after copyright and intellectual property infringement issues, was instrumental in the raids against dealers selling counterfeit products in Surat, Chennai and
Mumbai.

However its Director Zaheer Khan has clarified that his agency is not a raid-conducting party. "That is the job of police. What we essentially do is provide adequate and compelling intelligence to the law to act against an erring party," he said. 

EIPR dispels the common misconception about price benefits accrued by parallel imports and refilling activities. Stated Khan, "An import which is carried out by paying appropriate duties and taxes is fully legal. However, majority of those who indulge in parallel imports, in some way or the other, evade taxation." He pointed out that if a partner was to pay all the duty and taxes, his purchase price would not be any lower than what he would have paid, had he bought the product in the country.

EIPR has predicted a piracy/counterfeiting rate of about 30-40 percent in the domestic IT hardware segment. Khan said, "While supplies (consumables and media) constitute a large chunk of counterfeit products, chip-based products (like motherboards, graphic cards) and input devices (mice, keyboards) too flourish in the fake version. Compared to other industry segments like consumer durables and FMCG, counterfeit activity in IT hardware segment is relatively high."

With regards to refilling, Khan clarified that EIPR doesn't consider refilling an illegal or questionable activity. "However trying to sell a refilled cartridge or toner as an original is a case of fraud, and we treat such matters very seriously," he commented.

Apart from working with major vendors like HP, Intel, Epson, EIPR also helps Business Software Alliance (BSA) in checking piracy activity. Khan also warned that those resellers, who feel that they are less guilty because they might have sold very few fake products, need to change their mindset. "Vendors adequately spread awareness against fake/counterfeiting activity and if a partner still doesn't take it seriously, he is liable to get punished," he cautioned.

Khan also suggested that one of the easiest ways to identify a fake product is an appreciable price differential between the product that a partner buys and the actual company rates. He also advises the channel to leverage various mechanisms that vendors have put in place, to combat piracy and counterfeiting activity.

Goldie

(CNS)