High demand for fakes

For one, there is a growing demand for designer fakes among customers. Genuine brand owners also have to contend with other deterrents like complex procedures for getting complaints redressed, high cost of initiating regulatory and legal action, insufficient damages and penalties, difficulties in identifying targets and inability to strike at their international roots. christian louboutin sandals Khalifa Hareb, Director, Assets Management, Dubai Municipality, said the public must conduct due diligence before they buy any product. "They must be informed and be careful not to buy illegally sold products." christian louboutin black Taj Paul, intellectual property rights lawyer with Dubai Media City firm The Rights Lawyers, who deals with 10-15 counterfeit infringement cases in a month, says the police cannot take suo moto action unless a brand is registered and its owners file a complaint after identifying targets for raids. But often, nimble operators vanish within hours of brand owners identifying them to inform the authorities, she said. christian louboutin pumps The cost of initiating action is invariably higher than the damages received which is why many brand owners shy away from going to the authorities. "The decision of how critical it is for the brand owner to act comes down to doing a christian louboutin cost-benefit analysis," says Paul, explaining that the official fee for filing a civil case to claim damages is 7.5 per cent of the claim or a cap of Dh30,020. Additionally, there are expenses involved in getting documents legalised and translated into Arabic, besides the local lawyers' fee, all of which could add up to a huge amount, she adds. coach handbags