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February 22, 2002 | 1310 IST
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Laws need overhaul to fight counterfeiting: Jaitley

India's legal system needed a big shakeup to protect branded goods from counterfeiting, a global scourge costing an estimated $500 billion in losses annually, Law Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

India is one of the world's biggest sales centres for counterfeit goods with the country's top software industry body estimating that six out of every 10 software packages sold in the nation of more than a billion people are unauthorised.

"The law must become cleverer than the copier. We need to simplify and quicken legal procedures," Jaitley told a seminar.

India's archaic laws often make the road to justice long and winding with the nation's understaffed courts groaning under the weight of millions of undecided cases which take years to settle.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry says India's high-flying software industry, pharmaceutical firms, the entertainment industry and the fast-moving consumer goods sector were leading targets for counterfeiters.

Protracted delays in the legal systems result in global companies being hesitant to market cutting-edge products in India, fearing copyright and patent infringement.

Jaitley said present laws don't act as a deterrent to counterfeiters.

"We must start making examples so that no person is entitled to retain the profits of crime. The law must work in a way where you are able to pinch the pocket of the copier," Jaitley told a workshop on brand protection.

"The customer is the main victim as he's the one whose deceived."

Bharat Patel, the chairman of the chamber of commerce's brand protection committee, said the consumer goods sector -- which makes products for daily use such as soaps, shampoos, toothpaste and food items -- lost Rs 25 billion ($513 million) in yearly sales to counterfeiting.

At the same time as contending with the problem of fake goods, the sector which includes many multinationals is rife with discounting and brutal competition and is grappling with high advertising costs and a near-stagnant demand for many products.

"The government is also losing around Rs 9.0 billion annually in various taxes because of counterfeiting in the FMCG industry alone," said Patel, also chairman of Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Healthcare, who added counterfeiting was a worldwide phenomenon estimated at $500 billion annually.

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