We have to combat this on all levels. Some of the larger retail chains have purchased counterfeit Nike merchandise in the past, Simpson acknowledges. The number of counterfeit items available on the open market has increased due to improved technology that makes it easier and cheaper to produce authentic-looking merchandise. The problem is so pervasive that companies are pushing for harsher punishment of counterfeiters. Quam, for one, thinks vendors selling knockoffs should get jail time.
Counterfeiters take that as a cost of doing business.
It's a fine or risk they take. That's why we push for criminal remedies. You can't get out of serving jail time, and in areas with criminal punishments, people are leaving the area. Recent changes in California's anti-counterfeiting laws have imposed stiffer penalties on individuals arrested for selling or manufacturing knockoffs. In 1996, individuals caught selling knockoffs in California received citations unless they had a prior counterfeiting conviction.