UPDATE
COPY goods amounting to 80,000 items valued at 182 million baht were ''recycled'' at Phuket City's Saphan Hin dump this afternoon as senior officials performed their roles as advocates of original goods and copyrights for the Phuket media.
Original Report
PHUKET: Tourists in Patong will be told late this afternoon to stop buying pirate copy goods on Phuket after 80,0000 fake items are destroyed at Saphan Hin garbage dump in Phuket City.
The campaign against imitation brand items of all kinds is to continue through April and on, senior officials will announce today after yet another large haul yesterday evening.
Just as Rawiroj Chaiyatawatwiboon, 27, was settling in for a bright night of sales on Patong's Rat-U-Tit 200 Pi Road about 6.30pm, along came officers from the Department of Intellectual Property Rights in Bangkok.
''You're done, son'' or similar words to that effect in Thai left him watching as Patong police helped confiscate goods with a value of about two million baht.
Destined for destruction - rather than the luggage of tourists - are 1120 Billabong t-shirts, 640 Billabong wallets and 245 New Era baseball caps.
With senior police from Region 8 and Customs on Phuket with the Intellectual Property Rights people from Bangkok, sellers in Patong, Karon and Kata are likely to take a holiday.
The message not to buy pirate goods is likely to be made loud and clear to Phuket tourists when senior officials stroll through Patong about 4.30pm today after the destruction of goods in Phuket City.
Singapore has a very effective way to cut down on piracy. For every pirated DVD you get a SGD 1000 (THB 24.500) fine plus 2 weeks in Jail.
Consequently it's virtually impossible to find any fake DVDs or Blu-Ray disks there.
It's not like there are no tourists in Singapore (2011 13 million) who would buy such items if available so that is not a valid excuse.
Where there's a will, there's a way
Posted by Steve C. on March 29, 2012 11:50