Source: O Dia - RJ - 26/06/2010

BY PAULA SARAPU

Mountain of counterfeits in deposit reveals 10% increase in products collected

Rio - The deposit of the Police Station for the Suppression of Crimes Against Immaterial Property (DRCPIM), Antipiracy, reveals a true mountain of products awaiting forensics or judicial authorization for destruction: shoes, sneakers, CDs, DVDs, video games, clothes, bags, toys and party items. There are two 90 m² rooms, with a 5 m high ceiling, clogged up to the ceiling with counterfeit products seized this year.

The police station, one of the three specialized in the country, broke a seizure record: from January to May, there were almost 2 million counterfeit goods, 108 thousand (10%) more than in the same period in 2009. That year, 3.668.703 items fake ones were collected, mostly DVDs, party products, CDs and games. In 2008, there were 2.979.266.

“We intensify the repression in open markets and also to those who manufacture and distribute piracy. We recently burst into Petrópolis, in the mountainous region, a very structured garment where the counterfeiter chose the brand, such as Lacoste and Nike, and used 20 stations to embroider shirts at the same time, ”said Chief Raul Morgado, who was 14 months away. front of the specialized.

Facing this type of crime has two challenges, in the opinion of the delegate, transferred to the Niterói Child and Adolescent Protection Police Station on Wednesday: “One is to make the population aware that it is illegal activity. And the reduced punishment does not inhibit the action either: pirating CDs and DVDs is punishable by 1 to 4 years in prison and the counterfeiting of marks is a crime of the Special Criminal Court, with up to 1 year in prison, ”said Morgado, who was replaced by Valéria Sadio.

 
According to the president of the National Council for Combating Piracy of the Ministry of Justice, André Barcellos, the government fails to collect R $ 30 billion a year. A recent survey by an American software company shows that Brazil ranks 5th in the sector's piracy ranking. "We try to make educational measures and also narrow the price differential", he says.

Experts eyeing football-related items

Since the start of the World Cup, DRCPIM agents have seized around 11.500 items related to football, such as shirts, boots and vuvuzelas. Two experts climb the mountain of counterfeits and analyze the material, which cannot contain the sponsor's symbol or the stars referring to the fifth world championship and the CBF brand outline. They demand that none of the police use pirated products. "Some who showed up with Diesel pants had to go home," said a police officer.

Piracy moves R $ 78 billion a year in the country. For Ibmec economics professor Ruy Quintans, crime affects the three pillars of economic policy: “It masks employment data, the level of growth of the Gross Domestic Product and the rate of inflation. Production does not pass through the economy, it is a marginal business ”.

Fecomércio's research on piracy indicates a slight drop in the consumption of counterfeit products. In 2009, according to the study, 46% of Brazilians bought some pirated merchandise (1% less than in the previous year). The survey also shows that most consumers know that the use of these products can pose a risk to health and the economy, but says that, to buy the original, the price would need to fall in half.