Fund to target fakers

A leading streetwear brand has called for a special fund to help fight the growing crush of counterfeit producers strangling the market.
So incensed is Diesel by the amount of illegal trade circulating in Australia, it has written to Treasurer Peter Costello calling for a special taskforce to target the counterfeiters.
The Australian arm of the brand, headquartered in Italy, has gone so far as to offer to pay for the taskforce itself and has called upon similarly minded legitimate traders to join it.
The move follows news fellow disgruntled brand Louis Vuitton has issued court proceedings against the owner of a Queensland market where counterfeit clothing was found. In what is believed to be a legal first, the brand is taking action against the individual stall holders for trade mark infringement on the grounds the market owner and manager were jointly responsible for the counterfeit goods being carried by the stalls.
In pleading with Costello to address the problem, Diesel stated there were about 100 companies Australia-wide, who between them have spent an estimated $20 million in the past 12 months on lawyers fees attempting to stamp out the practice. Diesel confirmed it, itself had spent a "not inconsiderable sum" trying to stop the counterfeit sellers. However, it argued its lawyers were only minimally successful and the money was spent seeking civil remedies, not criminal remedies.
"If the police were addressing this problem and prosecuting dealers in counterfeit goods criminally rather than civilly, this trade would cease almost overnight."
Such a move would also prove of assistance to the government by way of attracting additional revenues from legitimate traders, the brand said.
In seeking the Treasurer's intervention, Diesel also argued that as New South Wales police already had a user-pays policy for providing crowd and traffic control at special events, it believed a similar user-pays system could be extended to the counterfeit police task force.
"[We] start with the premise that there must be a better way than simply spending a fortune with lawyers with minimal impact. The Government is a stakeholder in this problem. Government intervention is sought. No government money is sought."
In response, Diesel has received a letter from a senior adviser to the Treasurer stating its correspondence has been passed to the Minister for Justice for his intervention.
A recent report released by worldwide counterfeit intelligence agency Gieschen Consultancy ranked Australia just outside the top ten of countries pursing all forms of counterfeiting and pirate activity, behind US, India and the UK. The consultancy ranked Nike as the most popular apparel brand to counterfeit, followed by Adidas, Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Reekbok.