EU, U.S. seize $1.3 billion in counterfeit computer parts, plan crackdown

Officials from the U.S. and European Union gave themselves a big pat on the back today, announcing that a joint operation of theirs recently netted over 360,000 fake computer components over a two week period, a haul that they say rang up to some $1.3 billion. That apparently included both counterfeit integrated circuits and various computer parts, which were branded with over forty different trademarks including Intel, Cisco and Philips, to name a few. Needless to say, the officials are now apparently feeling a little buoyed by their success, with them vowing to crack down on computer counterfeiters the world over, and " take up the matter" with China, which is where most of the seized products apparently came from.

[Rafer @ Feb 22nd 2008 7:33PM]

Word association doesn't make that picture go with the story.

[James @ Feb 22nd 2008 7:38PM]

see: 4chan.

[hybridvigor88 @ Feb 23rd 2008 9:27AM]

did the counterfits work?

[bartoron @ Feb 22nd 2008 7:40PM]

I would, but then my head would asplode.

[John @ Feb 22nd 2008 7:59PM]

China doesn't care about copyrights? This blows my mind.

[nosleepidiot @ Feb 22nd 2008 8:41PM]

also, most 3rd world countries in the world don't care about copyrights...

It's mostly because a person making less than $200 a month can't afford to dish out $24 for a DVD or $14 for a CD, much less $200 for winders

[Flashpoint @ Feb 22nd 2008 8:50PM]

I travel to China frequently and I even have an apartment there in midtown Shanghai, Pu Xi.

The Chinese have ripoffs of EVERYTHING. I was suprised to see them selling video cards that claimed to be Radeon and Geforce with "512 MB ram" and such.
You can't trust any of that stuff cause there is no warranty and no proof it will work as advertised.


They have every computer part you could imagine - and all of those parts look like higher end products and aren't. They copy any and all software and sell it DIRT CHEAP. This is actually a great place to get software. Try a working copy of Vista for just $2.50 How about OSX Leopard for $1.50?

when I was there last you could buy PS2 games and Xbox games for just $1. PS3 games and 360 games cost around $3.

DVD's naturally are dirt cheap. You can get 10 for $5 and the sad thing is, they are PERFECT QUALITY.

[Backlin @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:26PM]

I wouldn't be surprised to find ripoffs of your apartment.

[Poom @ Feb 23rd 2008 12:05AM]

Flashpoint... They sell PS3 games too??? Do they work? I mean... they cracked the DRM and such? Wow.

[r3loaded @ Feb 23rd 2008 4:10AM]

"most 3rd world countries in the world don't care about copyrights"

Well, in India they apparently do, as I've found it hard to *easily* come across fake goods the way flashpoint has. To get the fake stuff, you have to find a guy running a small stall in a dodgy backstreet to get pirated software and knockoff goods.

That said, my cousin did have a "Hatty Davidson" cap :P

[monkfishbandana @ Feb 23rd 2008 4:30AM]

@ Backlin

I wouldn't be surprised if he also finds ripoffs of his apartment keys.

[amped @ Feb 23rd 2008 5:38AM]

@ nosleepidiot, Who honestly buys cd's now days?

[ssuk @ Feb 23rd 2008 7:51AM]

Poom: It's not a problem with DRM. You take data from a disc into an .iso or whatever, the data stays the way it was on the disc. What stops you just burning a Blu-Ray recordable and plonking it in your PS3 and playing it are little security bits on the disc which can only be added by special factory pressing facilities. So if you copy the game AND have that security bit on the disc, the PS3 wont know the difference between a legit game and a cheap knock-off.
It's how Datel have been putting ActionReplay onto the PS2, GC and so forth. They're not licensed software so it's the only way for them to get it done. Same with SwapMagic for PS2 as well.

[Alex @ Feb 22nd 2008 8:02PM]

1) China really does annoy me with their indifference towards Chinese companies blatantly ripping off other companies' products.
2) I'm going to go play CrackDown on my 360, it's a really nice game.

[OneLove @ Feb 23rd 2008 2:07AM]

That’s the same country that executes you for getting caught and embarrassing them. (see pet food scandal)

[Carbonize @ Feb 23rd 2008 2:15AM]

It's also the country that manufacturers most of the West's electronic goods. Odds are most of the computer you are viewing this on was made in China.

[telepheedian @ Feb 23rd 2008 4:51PM]

@Carbonize:

Ha, my PC sure isn't, even though some of the components probably are.

[Ali @ Feb 22nd 2008 8:14PM]

China, the land of gold farmers, cheap fake rubbish quality products & massive population invasions in Universities... /rant

[cheng @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:26PM]

yea.. next thing you know you'll end up marrying one

*boom*

[tutut @ Feb 23rd 2008 4:15AM]

Gold farmers : when there are demands , there are supplies, ask yourself, why do the Chinese do that ?

Fake Rubbish quality : Sure, turn to the back of the keyboard you're typing on right now ( and that is just ONE example)

Population invasion in universities : and the problem is ? are you frustrated because more of THEM going to universities than YOUR people ?



The Chinese are the victims of their own legacy as well, quite a number of Chinese companies got their products ripped off by smaller "fishes".

[tekdemon @ Feb 24th 2008 8:30PM]

What's wrong with the Chinese going to universities? There's obviously a heck of a lot of smart people in a country with 1.3billion+ people, who deserve a decent education as much as anybody else.

That said, at least in the US, most of the PRC students coming here are graduate students who get stipends as PhD's. Very very few (PRC) Chinese students can afford to attend undergrad in the USA-there's no such thing as student loans for foreign students! *Most* of the international students who are Chinese aren't from the PRC, they're usually from Hong Kong or Taiwan or Singapore (notice that 2 of those countries have English as an official language, and Taiwan has heavy ties with the United States so there's kids who bounce between the two countries), or Canada. I've seriously only ever met ONE undergrad student who actually came from the People's Republic of China.

So take your haterade elsewhere. The only reason why the PRC kids end up in PhD programs is because there aren't enough domestic students who want to do a PhD in biology or chemistry or mathematics, whereas there's tons of kids from the PRC who dream of getting that PhD. So unless you yourself dream of a PhD in mathematics I suggest you take your xenophobic crap elsewhere.

[Tim @ Feb 22nd 2008 8:25PM]

1.3 billion in parts? I doubt the figure is that high unless they're talking about Optimus Maximus keyboards...

[KEROLiUKAS @ Feb 22nd 2008 8:32PM]

LOL are you dumb? there is stuff that is way more expensive than the optimus maximus.

[Tech^Cellfish @ Feb 24th 2008 5:06AM]

Counterfeit processors, server memory modules and such are easily more expensive than an optimus.

[Tim @ Feb 22nd 2008 8:54PM]

At $3,611 average per computer 'part', I too think 1.3 billion is a bit steep... what where they faking? There may well be 'stuff' more expensive than the Maximus, please enlighten us which parts they'd be and where 360,000 customers would fork out $3,600 for the each at a shady, disreputable location... These figures are total bollocks.
I am sure there are more expensive parts, I am also sure if you are spending that kind of money for 'parts', you are a big company with deep pockets and you buy from a manufacturer directly or through a trusted sales channel that these items cannot enter.

Oh, I know, they seized 359,999 computer components at $100 each and 1 Hal9000 singularity processor at $1.264 billion.

[KEROLiUKAS @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:20PM]

You don't understand, the way i see these figures are the same way RIAA/MPAA 'calculates' their losses, they just take the downloaded number and multiply it by how much they would usually charge, even if the person wouldn't even buy it regularly if they couldn't download it. Anyways, back to the subject. I think the 1+ billion is what that would actually cost if they were real and counting MSRP, but it's actual selling/real value is much much less.

[MrMcGoo @ Feb 23rd 2008 1:42AM]

If they are copying high end Cisco routers and the like, which I know they do - the equivalent product could be in the 10's of thousands of dollars each.
A rumour I heard is that there is a Chinese company that makes high end router and switch clones legitimately and which do work, but Cisco believes it's ripped off their patents. When they tried to pursue the company, apparently Cisco were warned that they would not be able to sell anything in China if they persisted. Just a rumour but from people in this market.

[Brian @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:13PM]

Boo yah!

Kick some counterfeiter ass!

[wayne @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:50PM]

As a network engineer specializing in Cisco equipment, I can say that even the smallest of Cisco parts can cost several thousand. And I have seen some knock offs from venders that were trying to pass as original.

[Havok @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:14PM]

In Russia.... copyright violates YOU




sorry, had to be said

[Steven @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:22PM]

you forgot the soviet part of that statment

[hp540 @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:46PM]

pwned

[Dillon @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:18PM]

They can counterfit Intel processors now? I really, really, wouldn't want to encounter one of those...

[Paul D @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:35PM]

I'm not sure why everyone's talking about copyright and DVDs. The main issue with counterfeit computer parts is that you're defrauding the customer.

[tekdemon @ Feb 24th 2008 8:39PM]

Yes, if you try to pass off the counterfeit as genuine you're trying to rip off the consumer.

That said? When people buy fake DVDs for $1, they know it's a bootleg. I remember when I went to China even the stuff that didn't look bootleg was probably bootleg, and you could tell just from the price, because it'd be $3 for a boxed set of VCDs instead of $30. And quite honestly, none of the people there could have possibly been able to afford software like Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Office if they didn't buy the bootleg. I mean, someone I knew worked at KFC for 25 (US) cents an hour, so if he were to try and save up to buy Adobe Photoshop he'd have been able to buy it in 20 years (since you do have to spend money on rent and food).

So if you're counterfeiting stuff but it's obvious it's a knockoff, then it's not really ripping off the consumer. And how much it's ripping off the company really depends on whether the person buying the product could have afforded the real thing. In the case of a pirated Photoshop disk being purchased in China by some kid who makes 50 cents an hour as a gold farmer it's pretty hard to argue that Adobe actually lost any money there, since that kid was never a potential customer.
On the other hand, if a professional graphic designer in NYC decides to go buy a $1 counterfeit copy of Adobe Photoshop, that's another story since Adobe is actually losing money there.

[jake @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:42PM]

The problem is probably ALL of the companies MAKE the parts in China, making it obviously easier to copy. All of the ones mentioned: Cisco, Intel, Philips have plants in China. If you move to some other country the same problem can occur. I don't think China's going to put out much money to stop counterfeiting, maybe help out in some of the cases like this one when there is some outside help, but I don't feel they will do a total crackdown themselves. Just takes too much effort and money without much returns since most of these companies are foreign companies anyways.

[speedingticket @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:07PM]

Not trying to defend China here, but talking about copy rights, who invented Napster? Youtube? Limewire? And who is one of the largest country in the world downloading all those materials being offered on "then" Napster and now limewire, youtube? We really need to stop our hypocrisy, the whole world hates us! We blatenly talking about laws and freedom, yet we are the only country goes all over the world doing the things against what we believed. People are talking about messed up toys being shipped to China, did any one question that US selling messed up weapons to middle east that back fires in people's face? Fake stuff sux, but let's not pointing fingers so quickly.

[John B. @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:25PM]

I'd just like to say that the term "fake computer parts" makes me chuckle.

"This isn't a processor...THIS IS A PIECE OF CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH! THE HACKERS HAVE STRUCK AGAIN"

[Yuriy @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:59PM]

Yes, China ripping off for who? for us white people who can afford but doesn't want to pay that price that we have here. If white will stop buying fake staff from China than they will not make them because chinese people do not buy those fake parts, sunglasses, cosmetics, bags and clothing. And i mostly cases white people what to make those parts in China, that why they make them. Also yes, the people can not afford for software but mostly they are for their market - this about who will buy from americans Windows or Adobe in chinese or russian versions???

[rcm_rx7 @ Feb 23rd 2008 1:12AM]

what the fuck?

[Yuriy @ Feb 23rd 2008 1:57AM]

If white people not consume those products they will not do in such quantity. All buyer who do import/export from China always do that. They find factory in China and ask them do to exact same just for much less money. And what you find on their local markets its rejects from production. All good fake stuff are here. Thats the main fuck. The second fuck is that the all products that is made in China with flash memory are illegal why? because non of chinese manufacturings have license for doing such chips, they all comes in track-loads from Korea - thats the real true, ask any chinese factories who do memory chips, mp3 etc and they will tell you same.

[derX @ Feb 23rd 2008 4:45AM]

...I recognize those words as being apart of English, but what language was that?

Let me guess, you learned English from that knocked-off software, didn't you?

Not problems, though, me did two. Qualities stuffs are those software!

[suhag1029 @ Feb 24th 2008 11:31PM]

i didnt even bother reading what yuriy was saying as soon as i saw that "wtf?" was highly ranked.

[Yuriy @ Feb 25th 2008 2:58AM]

Yes, my English is not such grate but look at regular schools in USA students finish 8 year of learning and don’t know how to properly write days of the week - shame :-) Everybody in the world knows that USA education in schools is very poor that why all technical support here is from India or China because they better…

[frankXchange @ Feb 23rd 2008 1:57AM]

Historical Perspective:

American used to do the exact same thing China is doing now. It didn't care because Europe (from where the patents and copyrights originated) was to far away and it was too difficult to pursue through the courts. It changed its tune when it started to produce significant quantities of its own patents, but not until then. What goes around.

That being said, what will Dell do now that their supply line has been cut off? ;-)

[jake @ Feb 23rd 2008 2:10AM]

That's what I was kind of trying to allude to and what other posters was trying to say but just not as cleary. When this copyright infringement starts hurting industry in their own country, you bet they will actively target it, but the fact of the matter is now it's mostly hurting foreign companies. Humans are inherently selfish esp. in business and this is just a reflection of that.

[OneLove @ Feb 23rd 2008 2:07AM]

I like me a fake rolex.

[geekazine @ Feb 23rd 2008 4:44AM]

I got a fake Rolex from China a few years ago. It died.

One thing I will miss is the little gadgets like USB hubs and such. I wonder how that iPhone ripoff will fair....

[frankXchange @ Feb 23rd 2008 2:18AM]

A few more points:

It's hard to feel that the corporations, whose parts are being duplicated, are really victims. They moved their factories to China in the first place, putting workers in NA and Europe out of work, to make more money. They will argue that competition drove them to it, or that it was for survival. Really? It was for a fatter bottom line, and that's the start and end of it.

In doing so, they thought they could control China like every other third world country they've gone to for cheap labour. The Chinese are no fools, though. They will take what they've learned and run. They've opened pandora's box.

My second concern is:

Why all this effort for counterfeit parts? 1.3 Billion sounds like a lot, but it isn't, and it was destined for someone (I was only half joking when I mentioned Dell - mystery parts have been in circulation since Desktops have been around, and can be found in MANY products).

I find this action disturbing, not because of anything to do with computers, copyrights, or the like, but because it was done by our governments, whose police departments, paid for by OUR taxes, has made the protection of corporate interests a priority. I don't recall seeing this set as an agenda for our government in the news. The big corporations make insane profits, yet WE, the common people, are paying to make sure that their copyrights are being protected, while THEY move their factories to...China!

[lumstar @ Feb 26th 2008 1:34PM]

360,000 parts worth $1.3 Billion is roughly $3500/part. Sounds like some over estimation to me.