Counterfeit goods, what is it and why it should be

stopped?
By Christopher Gunawan- 2006212

Counterfeit goods or pirates good, in definition is imitating original

products to create similar looking-products, but with lower quality and
without permission from its original creator. Perhaps for some people it’s
a great alternative for having an original looking product in cheaper
price. But from my perspective, having or even using a counterfeit good
is a violence against the law.
To understand what violence the counterfeit goods causes, we must first
understand what a copyright is. Copyright is some kind of protection
given to any person who created or invented something to prevent
imitation without permission. For example, copyrighted items could be
art, music, trademarks, movies, programs, etc. Selling a copycat of a
copyright protected items is definitely illegal, and threaten with severe
sanctions according to the law of the country its seller operates in.
Counterfeit goods reduces or even seize all the honor the original
creator should receive. With the presence of counterfeit goods,
especially the one with very close appearance with the original one,
some people maybe cannot determine which one is the original
products. Hence, some people maybe use this copycat item without
realizing it. It’ll impact the sale of the original product, as well as the
original products reputation. Furthermore, it massively impacted the
national revenue.
According to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) in
2019, U.S. economy loses about 12.5 billion dollars in total output just
from music theft (per 2019, the exchange rate for dollar to rupiah is 1
dollar equivalent to Rp. 14,146. Therefore, the loses amount is roughly
about Rp 176,8 trillion). Consequently, it causes loss of over 71.000 jobs
in U.S. alone from bankruptcy! This massive amount of loses was only
from music industry alone. Can you just imagine how many loses occur if
all of art industry loss were put together? As for Indonesia, the
government loses about Rp. 65 trillion in 2014, according to the ministry
of industry. Government revenue from indirect taxes are also decreased
for about Rp 424 billion.
Alas, the pirates good market didn’t wane. On the contrary, it is
increasing over the year. As per 2019, counterfeit goods represent about
3.3% of global trade. Per 2020, this kind of item has risen to 5%. Five
percent is seemingly low number, but in global trade, it’s worth about
$500 billion (Per 2020, the exchange rate for dollar to rupiah is Rp.
14,139. Therefore, the loses amount is roughly about Rp 7.069
quadrillion or 7,069 trillion rupiah). It’s surely a serious problem in global
market!
Fortunately, many people have realized how injure counterfeit goods to
the original creator and the country, and now bit by bit reducing the
usage of counterfeit products, replacing them with the original one. The
Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group (GACG) has been built for this
purpose. It represents more than 3,000 brands affected by the
counterfeit market. Soon, it’s expected to suppress the counterfeit
products at the highest level possible.
We may never get rid of the counterfeit products, as we can never make
all people change their perspectives. But, after reading all this
information, realizing how many loses the artist and government could
suffer from counterfeit goods, would you still use it? You can help many
designer and original creator by using their original products. Thus, for
any of you who is still hesitant in using a counterfeit products or not, you
should definitely not use it. Always use original products, as an
appreciation given to the creator for their work, and surely original
products offer better quality than the pirated one.