The United States on Wednesday named Delhi’s Nehru Place and Mumbai’s Manish Market among the world’s most notorious markets for pirated goods.
Nehru Place is an old favorite, having figured in earlier lists of markets world over that the US considers the worst for Intellectual Property Rights violations.
Gaffar Market, also in Delhi, Manish Market and Lamington Road in Mumbai and Chenoy Trade Center and the Hong Kong Bazar in Hyderabad were the others from India.
The US Trade Representative, which announced on Monday it was taking India to WTO on solar panels, periodically lists “notorious markets” for IPR violations, both physical and online.
“Nehru Place continues to be a prominent example of the numerous markets in major cities throughout India that are known for dealing in large volumes of pirated software, pirated optical media containing movies and music, and counterfeit goods,” said the report.
The report said vendors in these markets are good at evading raids — they “are successful at hiding illicit merchandise prior to police raids, and returning it to shelves shortly after”.
Gaffar market, the report said was rife with counterfeit clothing, shoes, cosmetics, electronics, and other products, most of which are imported into India.
{{/usCountry}}Gaffar market, the report said was rife with counterfeit clothing, shoes, cosmetics, electronics, and other products, most of which are imported into India.
{{/usCountry}}Mumbai’s Manish Market and Lamington Road were known for pirated copies of Hindi and English language films, sold along side their authorized versions.
And Chenoy Trade Center and Hong Kong Bazar in Hyderabad — close to India’s Silicon Valley — were known for pirated computer hardware and software.
No Indian website figured among the online pirates named. Many websites based in Canada, China and some European Countries figured on the list.
China, once again, Thailand and Indonesia figured prominently among physical markets named for piracy along with the six in India.