據稱，去年美國海關和邊防檢查部門截獲的山寨產品中，有84%來自中國大陸或香港，中國甚至因此被稱為制造山寨貨的“狂野西部”。山寨貨不僅嚴重損害了商家的利益，而且給消費者的權益和人身安全帶來了嚴重隱患。
![]() Beats耳機真品與山寨貨對比視頻截圖。
“你認為哪個是真的Beats耳機，哪個是山寨貨？”這是英國少年杰克•吉爾伯特在一段視頻里的旁白。他在YouTube的TechFusions頻道發布了這段視頻，Beats耳機就是說唱歌星Dr. Dre戴的那種非常昂貴的耳機。吉爾伯特和這段視頻里的嘉賓最后總結說，這兩款耳機看起來幾乎一模一樣。
視頻中黑色的那個耳機價值430美元，它也深受勒布朗•詹姆斯和賈斯汀•比伯等明星的喜愛。另一個白色的耳機只值90美元。對于總價值可能高達480億美元的“山寨機海”來說，它只能算是其中的一滴水罷了。
山寨是一個全球性的問題，而且這個問題已經存在很多年了。但是科技的發展使這個問題愈演愈烈，而且嚴重惡化，背后原因可管窺一斑。在那段視頻結尾，吉爾伯特和另一個主持人對那些想買正版Beats耳機的人警告說，盡量不要在eBay上購買。
科技的發展使賣山寨產品的商家有了理直氣壯要高價的機會，同時互聯網也使山寨產品的銷售變得更容易了。打造一個貌似口碑不錯的網站是件很容易的事，這是在紐約運河街賣手機和蘋果配件的商家永遠都不能比的。而且有些“克隆”網站也經常讓消費者上當，讓他們以為自己以很低的價錢買到了正品。
紐約城市大學（City University of New Yor）的教授艾倫•齊默爾曼曾經撰寫過大量關于山寨產品的文章，他指出：“山寨是一個非常暴利的行業。可以以很低的成本進入這個行業，而且就算哪天被抓住了，受罰的成本與其它違法行為相比也是很低的。”他還表示，海關和邊檢部門幾乎無法阻止山寨的泛濫。根據齊默爾曼的計算，全球海關部門大概只截貨了所有進口山寨商品的十分之一。
在去年美國海關和邊防檢查部門截獲的山寨產品中，有84%來自中國大陸或香港。經常幫助各大品牌打擊山寨產品的律師路易斯•費歐徹鮑姆把中國稱為生產山寨商品的“狂野西部”，并表示中國政府沒有持續地打擊山寨產品，保護知識產權。
隨著技術的推陳出新，許多之前的型號也漸漸過時，那么各大品牌是否還有必要花時間打擊已經過時的山寨產品？對于這個問題，費歐徹鮑姆認為：“這個問題并不因為出了一款新產品就不存在了。”首先，山寨廠商的動作也很快。最近他的一個客戶打算推出一款新產品，但正品尚未推出，山寨貨就已經上市了。另外許多公司在銷售新品的同時，也會繼續折價銷售老款產品。因此，費歐徹鮑姆說：“山寨給各大品牌帶來的損害一直存在。”他還表示，山寨產品還可能使消費者面臨潛在危險，比如電池爆炸或其它原因引起的火災都是常見風險。
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| "We want to know what you think is the real or the replica Beats," says the voice off camera, belonging to Jack Gilbert, a British teen hosting a segment on his YouTube channel, TechFusions. He's talking about Beats by Dr. Dre luxury headphones. Gilbert and his co-host conclude that they look almost identical.
The black pair on screen goes for $430 and is worn by the likes of LeBron James and Justin Bieber. The other is white, costs $90 and is part of a $48 billion problem.
Counterfeiting is a global issue and has been for years. Technology has just made it worse, much worse. And here's a clue as to why. Gilbert and his co-host sign off with a warning to viewers that want to buy a real pair -- avoid buying on eBay (EBAY). "That's a massive mistake lots of people make. Because a lot of the time they think it's real, but actually, they're not," says Gilbert.
Technology has given counterfeiters the ability to make convincing electronic rip-offs -- fast -- while the Internet has made it easier to buy counterfeit products. Websites can be made to look reputable in a way that a sleazy middleman selling Air Phones and Apple-a-likes on Canal Street never could. And doppelganger websites frequently dupe customers into thinking they're getting the real deal, even at a fraction of the price.
"It's a very profitable business," says Alan Zimmerman, a professor at The City University of New York who's written extensively about the impact of counterfeit goods on companies and the economy. "You can get into business at very low cost, and the penalties if you get caught are very small compared to other illegal activities." He adds that it's almost impossible for Customs and Border Protection to stop the problem. Zimmerman has calculated that customs agencies worldwide seize approximately one-tenth of one percent of total imports.
Eighty-four percent of counterfeit goods seized by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2012 came from China or Hong Kong. Louis Feuchtbaum, a lawyer who helps brands fight fakes, refers to China as the "wild west for manufacturing counterfeit products." He describes a government that fails to consistently deter counterfeits and enforce intellectual property rights.
With new innovations rendering previous models obsolete, should brands spend their time fighting outdated counterfeits? "The problem doesn't go away merely because there's a new product," says Feuchtbaum. For one thing, counterfeiters act fast. One of his clients recently had a product counterfeited before it even went onto the market. Older products also often remain in the supply chain as companies continue to sell different versions, with the older model at a discount. "Then there's the everlasting damage done to brands by counterfeits," he says, adding that fakes also put consumers in physical danger. He cites exploding batteries and other fire hazards as common risks..
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雖然數碼產品的山寨市場規模很龐大，但還是比不上進入美國的山寨服飾。在2012年美國查獲的所有山寨商品中，服飾所占的比重達到29%，電子產品只占15%。福德漢姆大學（Fordham University）時尚法律與知識產權教授蘇珊•斯卡菲迪指出，山寨服飾的比重之所以超過山寨數碼產品，原因很簡單：“仿造一款手機需要的技術仍然比仿造一個手提包復雜。”
有的山寨產品是在合法工廠里生產的，他們用“三班倒”的模式大量生產，然后等到合法產品生產完之后，就趁沒人的時候把山寨產品從后門運走。也有些山寨產品純粹是在與原產品沒有任何關系的地下工廠里生產的。而且如今的消費者也越來越好騙了，其中一個原因就是互聯網更容易使這些產品看起來像合法產品，而不是地攤貨。另一個原因就是山寨產品的確很難分辨。
斯卡菲迪說：“服裝公司和數碼產品企業要采取的措施差不多。”她提到了商標的重要性，同時表示在向工廠下單的時候一定要非常小心，另外還要教會海關人員如何識別山寨貨。
雖然各大品牌和政府機構為打擊山寨使盡了渾身解數，但是消滅山寨就像要殺死一條九頭蛇一樣困難。奧克利眼鏡公司（Oakley）品牌保護副總裁艾德里安•龐得森表示，服裝飾品行業的第一道防線就是從源頭上打擊山寨廠商。他認為一旦山寨產品進入“商業流”，要打擊它就要多花100倍的時間。他表示，去年奧克利公司和中國政府基本上每天都要突襲一家山寨工廠，但是現在無論在哪個大洲，奧克利公司每天照樣還會查獲大量中國造的山寨眼鏡。
龐得森說：“他們的運作方式跟販毒網絡差不多。”廠商會把產品的生產分散到好幾個工廠，所以如果其中一家被抓了，其他工廠仍然平安無事。一旦產品生產好了，就會立即出貨。同時龐得森認為，貿易批發商們也愿意承擔儲存和運輸這些貨物的風險，所以他們也會獲得不菲的收益。
山寨產品的運輸網絡已經擴展到了全世界。龐德森表示，奧克利公司的調查人員曾經在墨西哥南部城市阿卡普爾科見過10到15個山寨奧克利眼鏡。他們順藤摸瓜，追查到了巴拿馬的一家委內瑞拉籍和一家哥倫比亞籍的借殼公司，這些借殼公司最遠會把貨運到墨西哥和委內瑞拉。
龐德森還指出，要想打擊仿冒Beats耳機和奧克利眼鏡的山寨產品還需要不菲的人力成本。他說：“世界上任何一個政府都不可能允許一家合法工廠那樣運營，也不會允許工人在那樣的條件下工作——那真是非常可怕。”(財富中文網)
譯者：樸成奎
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| Despite the scale of the problem, there still seem to be fewer fake electronics than fake clothes and accessories reaching the U.S. Apparel and handbags represented 29% of all items seized in 2012 while 15% were electronics. Susan Scafidi, a professor in fashion law and intellectual property at Fordham University, says that the quantity of seized fashion goods still outstrips electronics for a simple reason: "It still takes more skill to craft a cellphone than to craft a handbag," says Scafidi.
Knock-offs tend to be made in either a registered factory that makes them on the "third shift" after the legitimate product is made, shipping the counterfeits out the back door when no one is looking. Or then there's the purely clandestine factory that has no relation to the original product. Customers these days are also more easily duped, partly because the Internet gives items legitimacy more easily than a sale on a street corner would, and partly because they're harder to detect.
"The measures that an apparel company has to take and an electronics company has to take are very similar," says Scafidi. She mentions the importance of trademarks, being careful when drawing up agreements with factories, and educating customs officials to spot fakes.
Despite the best efforts of brands and officials, catching counterfeits is like slaying a hydra. Adrian Punderson, Vice President of Oakley Brand Protection says the apparel and accessories company's first line of defense is to attack production facilities. He estimates that once fakes get into the "stream of commerce" it costs approximately 100 times more to stop being sold. Yet Punderson says that during 2012, Oakley and Chinese officials raided a clandestine factory almost every other day. Despite that, the company is still making large seizures of counterfeit sunglasses from China, in locations on every continent.
"They operate pretty much like you would see in a narcotics network," says Punderson. He says that manufacturers spread production between several factories, so if one gets raided the rest of the stash will still be intact. Once the goods are ready, they're immediately moved out. According to him, wholesalers are now the ones willing to take the risk of storing goods and moving them around, so they also have a larger share of the reward and the power.
The network itself stretches across the world. Punderson describes how an Oakley investigator saw 10-15 pairs of counterfeit sunglasses in Acapulco, Mexico. They traced them back to a Venezuelan and a Columbian front company in Panama, which were shipping goods as far as Mexico and Venezuela.
As always, there's a human cost to getting fake Beats headphones and Oakley Sunglasses at rock bottom prices. Says Punderson, "There's no way that any government in the world would allow a legitimate factory to operate that way -- in the conditions these people work in -- it's pretty frightening."
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