The Hindu Business Line : `India, China hotspots for fakes'

IDENTIFYING India and China as the hotspots for IT consumable counterfeits, Hewlett Packard (HP), has called for setting up special Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) cells in the police department and IPR tribunals.

"India and China are hot spots as far as IT consumables (inkjet cartridges, laser jet cartridges, dot matrix ribbons and toner powder for copying machines) counterfeits are concerned. While there is no formal survey to establish the size of this space, we estimate that the IT consumable market is about Rs 1,500 crore in India, and between 10 and15 per cent is counterfeit," Mr Ajay Mohan, Supplies Business Development Manager - Imaging and Printing Group, Asia Pacific, HP, said here on Monday.

"There is a need to impart training to the public prosecutors and magistrates on IPR laws. The State should also set up IPR tribunals to speed up the decision-making process," he said.

Mr Mohan defined counterfeit selling as the sale of remanufactured or refilled cartridges in original packaging and at the same price as the original product. "The consumers buy such products thinking they are original and end up with a poor user experience. There are no refunds and the counterfeit cartridges spoil the hardware," he said adding that HP had adopted a multi-pronged approach to fight counterfeits in Indian market.

"On the retail side, we are focusing on spreading awareness about the security seals on the packaging so that the consumer is able to differentiate between the original and counterfeit product. On the enterprise side, we are targeting the key procurement people to help them determine which products are genuine," he said.

The company plans to add 100 original cartridge stores across the country by October-end. Currently, HP has about 900 such stores, said Mr Mohan.

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