By Wagner Gomes, from Globo Online - 10/06/2005

SAO PAULO. The Brazilian consumer knows how to differentiate the original product from the pirated product and, even so, often opts for counterfeit products to spend less. In addition, the consumption of this type of merchandise is not restricted to the least favored segments of the population. In all social classes there is a demand for specific items. These data are part of a survey conducted by Ibope at the request of the Dannemann Siemsen Institute (IDS), the United States Chamber of Commerce and Warner Bros Consumer Products.

602 interviews were conducted with residents of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, aged over 16 years. According to the survey, 43% of consumers who made purchases of pirated products in the last 12 months said they know how to differentiate the counterfeit from the original, while another 16% said they know how to make this differentiation most of the time. The majority (76%) of consumers who bought imitations in the past 12 months claimed to have paid less than half the value of the original product.

The most sought after products in the pirate market, according to the survey, were clothing (11%), sneakers (10%) and toys (10%). The richest, belonging to classes A and B, said they had bought electronic games (12% and 15%, respectively), toys (17% and 17%), watches (27% and 10%) and glasses (16% and 10%). Class C preferred clothes (16%), toys (21%), sneakers (21%) and watches (17%). The poorest, from classes C and D, bought clothes (16%), toys (18%), sneakers (16%) and watches (15%).

? As FBI chief operations officer Jim Moody once said, counterfeiting will be the crime of the XNUMXst century. Profit from piracy is already three times greater than profit from drug and arms trafficking. Do you save money on investments in products and marketing, there is no quality control and is tax evasion very high? said José Henrique Vasi Werner, IDS advisor.

According to him, across the country, product piracy in only two sectors, clothing and sneakers, removes R $ 9 billion in taxes every year. This amount, he explained, would be enough to cover, for example, 20% of the Social Security deficit. The amount is also equivalent to 40% of the annual collection with the CPMF. Werner said that Brazil's GDP could grow much more if piracy were combated in the country.

Among those interviewed, 33% said they bought products from street traders and so-called informal commerce stores, while 54% agreed with the statement that famous brands have very large profits and are not harmed by the consumption of counterfeits. Already 65% ​​said they believe that the production and trade of counterfeits generate jobs in poor countries, while famous brands would generate only in the rich.

Most of the imported pirates come from China, but Brazil is also specializing in manufacturing counterfeit products. Marcus Macedo, managing director of Warner Bros., said textile factories specializing in pirating branded clothing are common. Toys, which need more manufacturing technology, are in the minority.