International Journal on Criminology Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2014 | Page 84

International Journal on Criminology
2. The results of the internal audit that
would permit the group (at the correct
moment, if necessary) to itself bring a
civil action in regard to the actions of
certain of its delegates (namely, Mr. DI-
OMEDE) and the consequences of those
actions, have already been compiled, and
will continue to be compiled as the internal
inquest progresses.
3. The involvement of Risk Team, an external
service provider, to guide the approach
to internal information, which, to
the eyes of the tax office, evidences a will
to clear up the affair, not to suppress it.
Counterfeiting
Counterfeiting is a veritable scourge
for business today. Already confronted
with increased competition,
they must also confront this illegal production
which diminishes their market share,
threatens jobs, and inevitably degrades
their brand image. When this problem is
mentioned one usually thinks of its impact
upon the luxury industries that were its first
victim. In this regard, French brands figure
amongst the most counterfeited in the European
Union in the domain of cosmetics,
perfumes, clothing, and so forth.
However, for some years now counterfeiting
has not been limited to the luxury
sector alone. It has undergone a definite
change of direction toward everyday consumer
products. No company is safe from
it any longer. The story of a certain Saint-
Étienne-based SME, a shoe manufacturer,
is particularly revelatory. The commercial
site of the brand Archiduchesse.com, 70%
of whose sales are transacted over the Internet,
was hacked by a Chinese outfit, including
its content, logo, and images (including
the photo of the French manager). A complete,
faithful copy of the French site offers
counterfeit versions of the of the SME’s
products for sale at a sixth of the price. “At
the moment this has no impact for us since
this site’s sales seem to be limited to Chinese
markets, but if it were to be translated into
French, the counterfeit products could potentially
be sold in France, and that would
be the end of us,” 5 said the manager of the
SME, Patrice Cassard.
It is thus quite clear that counterfeiting
can have devastating effects on SMEs
(which constitute 70% of the French economic
fabric). What is more, in the face of
this criminal phenomenon, SMEs are at a
disadvantage relative to larger companies.
Any tackling of the problem presupposes
the prior putting into place of a monitoring
system so as to detect acts of counterfeiting.
Before being able to mount any
kind of response to defend one’s rights, one
must firstly know that one is a victim. In addition,
launching a legal procedure implies
significant expenses, which are often difficult
to afford for SMEs. In a case like that
of the Archiduchesse brand, the manager of
the company would have to spend around
fifty thousand euros to appeal to a bailliff
to observe the counterfeit production, and
then appoint a lawyer to fight the case.
Counterfeiting is a polymorphous
phenomena that covers many different economic
and legal situations. From a strictly
legal point of view, the term “counterfeiting”
refers to the violation of intellectual
property rights (such as a patent, brand, designs,
and models), but in its everyday sense
it designates broadly the whole range of acts
of parasitism, imitation, and unfair competition.
What is more, this polymorphous
5
“Contrefaçon: une entreprise de chaussettes démunie,” Le Figaro, April 19, 2012, http://www.lefigaro.fr/societes/2012/04/19/20005-20120419ARTFIG00662-contrefacon-une-entreprise-de-chaussettes-demunie.php.
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