The use of product catalogs, formerly sold in the middle of the street, is a counterattack of illegal trade after the strengthening of inspection, both by the Delegated Operation and by the Municipal Secretariat for Urban Security, which has coordinated an anti-piracy committee since December 2010.

A member of this group, prosecutor Alfonso Presti says that the omission in relation to smuggling can even result in a classification of PMs due to malfeasance. According to him, police should always take action to curb illegal practice. In the case of pirating CDs and DVDs, you must go to the place where the products are sold. "It makes no sense to have Delegated Operation to inhibit piracy and it won't be done."

Inspection

The report spoke with municipal guards and PMs. According to everyone, it is up to the GCM to fight piracy inside the galleries and the PMs outside them. The Communication sector of the Military Police states that the delegated Operation personnel must seize the catalogs for sale of pirated and smuggled products. However, according to the corporation, they are not allowed to enter the properties to collect the products. The corporation also stated that, if misconduct is found, PMs will be held responsible.

Note sent by the City of São Paulo did not respond to questions about the actions of the police.

There are still street vendors on the street, but they are afraid of the police

Illegal street vendors have declined, but have not disappeared from and around Rua 25 de Março. Despite the extra force of the Military Police on the road, some even set up stalls with cardboard boxes to sell pirated CDs and DVDs. “Piracy has arrived,” shout some of them, confident of impunity.

Most of the illegal street vendors, however, are more discreet. They defend their products with black bags in their hands. When they see the pairs of PMs walking around the region, they simply put the products in the bags and stop advertising them. But they sell everything: DVDs, socks, water and toys.

The State questioned the PM about how many police officers were assigned to the Delegated Operation in the 25 de Março region. However, the corporation did not respond. The report counted more than 30 policemen making rounds in the city's busiest shopping blocks. The Municipality reported that police action reduced crime by 70% in the area of ​​the Sub-prefectures of Sé, Mooca and Santo Amaro.

Less than 10% of stores have piracy

Piracy is disappearing from inside shopping centers and galleries in the central region of São Paulo. The power. Today, the least that happens to those who are caught selling pirated products is to have their boxing closed and the goods seized. More than 1.400 Brazilians were indicted by the Civil Police and 150 illegal foreigners ended up being notified to leave the country. The pressure is part of these products to be taken to other cities in the state.

The results began to happen after the Municipal Secretariat for Urban Security, the Public Ministry, Civil, Military and Federal Police, in addition to the Federal Revenue Service, began to act together in December 2010. “We have already carried out 38 major operations, in addition to other 70 in recidivist locations. Now, less than 10% of stores in high-street malls are pirated, ”says the secretary of Urban Security, Edsom Ortega. Of 38 large establishments inspected, 20 ended up sealed; and 8 remain closed.

Chief Carlos Roberto Campos, from the Antipiracy Police Department of the Organized Crime Investigations Department, notes that those caught selling piracy are responding for crimes against the consumption relationship. And the penalty of detention varies from 2 to 5 years.

Whoever has a store in the downtown galleries, however, complains that the drop in revenue is huge. According to vendors, people are already looking for replicas of designer products.

Edsom Ortega says that suffocation even increases sales of these products in other municipalities. The report was in Guarulhos, São Bernardo and Campinas and found that in these places the sale of these irregular items remains indiscriminate.

United States. Former Brazilian ambassador to the United States and president of the Brazilian Institute of Competitive Ethics, Roberto Abdenur, says that the combat model adopted in São Paulo is “inspiration” for other cities in the country. “The difference now is the consistency of operations ”, He says.

On a visit to São Paulo, the Minister of National Security of the United States, Janet Napolitano, proposed the creation of an anti-piracy nucleus in the city. Even with the action, the capital is seen as one of the most important warehouses for piracy on the continent.

Seizures are taken to secret warehouse

The approximately 70 million illegal items seized in operations since 2010 are kept in a shed with a secret address, guarded 24 hours a day, to prevent attempted robberies. The 6-square-meter space was rented by the City Hall last year after the old warehouse filled up.

In order to free up space for the new seizures, the City began sending ten tons a day for destruction last month. “Nothing that is learned is used in its original state. Everything is destroyed and recycled ”, says the municipal secretary of Urban Security, Edsom Ortega.

Last week alone, 22.540 pirated and illegal products were seized in six shopping centers in the central region - Shopping Monti Maré, Shopping Pamplona, ​​Galeria 39, 25 de Março I, Shopping Mirage and Galeria 960. In these places, the inspection team collected watches, bags , accessories, electronics, CDs and DVDs.

Legislation. The secretary affirms that the Municipality is studying the creation of a law so that the owners of the properties are fined for illegal products sold in their buildings. The lawyer Miguel Pereira Neto, defender of the Chinese-Brazilian businessman Law Kin Chong, patriarch of a family that owns the 25 de Março and Mundo Oriental shopping malls, among others, affirms that the law would not be a municipal competence. “If there is someone who sells piracy, they have to be prosecuted, sentenced. Now, the lessor is not responsible for the lessee's activity, ”he says.

Law's two shopping malls, however, are among the places where City Hall continues to encounter piracy frequently. According to the lawyer, however, Law does not tolerate piracy in family businesses. "They also do not import and do not sell irregular merchandise", says Pereira Neto.

Siege also closes in the interior of São Paulo

Piracy focuses, however, are not limited to the capital of São Paulo. The increase in the sale of pirated and smuggled products at the Campinas camelódromo, for example, caused the Public Ministry to close in against the activities of informal commerce in the city. Promoters of the Special Action Group to Combat Organized Crime (Gaeco) set off operations, in partnership with the police and the Municipal Guard, to curb counterfeiting of products and commercialization.

The actions, initiated in 2011, reduced the open sale of some pirated products at the camelódromo, such as cigarettes, CDs and DVDs (of music and films), but did not end the illegal trade. To escape inspection, street vendors began to stock up in warehouses and in the gallery rooms in the center.

On the 13th, for example, the Civil Police arrested three people that they kept in a commercial building, a few meters from the camelódromo, a real attack of pirated CDs and DVDs. 100 thousand units were collected. The product supplied the market in Campinas and the region.

The deputy of the 1st DP, José Carlos Fernandes, who investigates the case, said that the documents found and the information collected indicate that the production of the pirated material was done in another city and that the place served as a warehouse for the sale and distribution of the goods. . "The material was stored in warehouses and the traders took it gradually for sale."

But piracy is not restricted to the sale of CDs, DVDs and cigarettes. Last month, the Public Prosecutor's Office requested support from the police and GM and went to the camelódromo to close three stalls selling counterfeit sneakers. In this case alone, 5 pairs were seized.