Columbia Sportswear busts Thai counterfeiters
by Richard Read, The Oregonian Thursday May 28, 2009, 9:15 PM
Columbia Sportswear Co.Thai police say Teng Sok Chheng, a Chinese-Cambodian woman arrested last week in Thailand, brought faked Columbia products across from Cambodia.
Police who arrested a woman in Thailand accused of counterfeiting Columbia Sportswear products had to face down an angry mob and Thai army soldiers on the way to jail.
First, a mob surrounded the Thai cops and Teng Sok Chheng, the alleged counterfeiting ringleader, demanding her release in a gritty town bordering Cambodia. "We decided to move from the hot spot immediately," wrote an unnamed investigator working for Columbia, the apparel and footwear company based near Beaverton.
Then during the four-hour drive to Bangkok on May 21, Thai soldiers stopped the officers, investigators and their suspect, demanding her freedom. "The soldiers eventually released us," the investigator wrote, "after the police pressed the issue that the soldiers had no authority to detain us."
To Columbia managers in Oregon, the soldiers' conduct -- and repeated phone calls during the drive from influential police and military officials -- illustrates how corruption often abets international product piracy. Chheng, who allegedly brought pirated shirts and jackets across the border from her native Cambodia, evidently had great connections.
"You don't have a business like her business without paying somebody," said John Motley, Columbia Sportswear associate general counsel and director of intellectual property.
Western tourists who encounter knock-off parkas and shoes in foreign markets often find the fakes funny and their dirt-cheap prices irresistible. But at Columbia, Nike and other big-brand companies, raids on product piracy are serious cops-and-robbers ventures with multimillion-dollar stakes.
Motley guesses that annual sales of copycat Columbia products amount to $200 million, a figure that's growing as factories suffering from the global recession enter the counterfeit market.
Columbia Sportswear Co.
First, a mob surrounded the Thai cops and Teng Sok Chheng, the alleged counterfeiting ringleader, demanding her release in a gritty town bordering Cambodia. "We decided to move from the hot spot immediately," wrote an unnamed investigator working for Columbia, the apparel and footwear company based near Beaverton.
Then during the four-hour drive to Bangkok on May 21, Thai soldiers stopped the officers, investigators and their suspect, demanding her freedom. "The soldiers eventually released us," the investigator wrote, "after the police pressed the issue that the soldiers had no authority to detain us."
To Columbia managers in Oregon, the soldiers' conduct -- and repeated phone calls during the drive from influential police and military officials -- illustrates how corruption often abets international product piracy. Chheng, who allegedly brought pirated shirts and jackets across the border from her native Cambodia, evidently had great connections.
"You don't have a business like her business without paying somebody," said John Motley, Columbia Sportswear associate general counsel and director of intellectual property.
Western tourists who encounter knock-off parkas and shoes in foreign markets often find the fakes funny and their dirt-cheap prices irresistible. But at Columbia, Nike and other big-brand companies, raids on product piracy are serious cops-and-robbers ventures with multimillion-dollar stakes.
Motley guesses that annual sales of copycat Columbia products amount to $200 million, a figure that's growing as factories suffering from the global recession enter the counterfeit market.
Columbia Sportswear Co. A copycat label appears genuine but comes from a factory making counterfeits that were seized in Thailand. Many of the sizes were large, apparently for Western tourists.
Some plants make outright fakes. Some contract factories that produce legitimate goods for Columbia and other brands make extra items during night shifts that they sell on the so-called gray market.
Columbia, faced with increasing product piracy as its sales have grown, has stepped up efforts this year to catch infringers. Last week's raids across Thailand amounted to the largest bust to date in the crackdown.
Thailand has long been a hotbed for fake versions of products made by Columbia, Nike and other brands. During an unrelated operation May 6, 200 officials raided a street market in Bangkok's Patpong red-light district, seizing counterfeit goods and triggering an all-night melee in which 17 people were injured.
Patpong vendors were outraged that an outside team conducting the raids neither gave them advance notice, as normal, nor allowed them to retrieve confiscated goods, The Nation newspaper reported.
In Columbia's case, a legitimate distributor reported that shops were opening filled with imitation goods. A private investigator retained by Columbia got himself hired at the retail chain of 16 outlets spanning the southeast Asian nation.
Investigators snuck a GPS transmitter on a delivery truck. They found the fakes were coming from Cambodia. They alerted Thai authorities, who joined the investigation.
On May 20, officers raided stores in places ranging from Bangkok to the northern area of Changmai to Pattaya, a coastal tourist trap. The next day, authorities descended on Benjawan market in the dusty town of Aranyaprathet, gateway to semi-legal casinos placed between Thai and Cambodian border checkpoints.
Police began confiscating products and arrested Chheng, age unknown, detaining her in a van. "The situation at the raid went bad," the investigator wrote.
Officers realized they'd have to book Chheng in Bangkok instead of taking her to the local police station. "Hundreds of people in that area would have gone to the police station and surrounded us," the investigator wrote, "forcing the police and us to release Ms. Chheng."
On the road to Bangkok, calls poured in from Thai officials, the investigator wrote, requesting Chheng's release without charges. Officers and investigators escorting Chheng called their own high-ranking contacts, who prevailed. The team managed to book Chheng in Bangkok.
In all, authorities seized more than 4,700 counterfeit Columbia products, likely made in Cambodia and Vietnam, from four stores and two related warehouses, the company said. Police are seeking the chain's owner.
Columbia managers say counterfeiting injures consumers who buy knock-offs that don't provide high-level protection from the elements. Product piracy undermines legitimate businesses and jobs, they say, supporting factories that may abuse workers, hire children and pollute surroundings.
"We believe it's a matter of principle and integrity to protect loyal Columbia customers from imposters," said Tim Boyle, Columbia president and chief executive.
-- Richard Read,
richread@aol.com
Columbia, faced with increasing product piracy as its sales have grown, has stepped up efforts this year to catch infringers. Last week's raids across Thailand amounted to the largest bust to date in the crackdown.
Thailand has long been a hotbed for fake versions of products made by Columbia, Nike and other brands. During an unrelated operation May 6, 200 officials raided a street market in Bangkok's Patpong red-light district, seizing counterfeit goods and triggering an all-night melee in which 17 people were injured.
Patpong vendors were outraged that an outside team conducting the raids neither gave them advance notice, as normal, nor allowed them to retrieve confiscated goods, The Nation newspaper reported.
In Columbia's case, a legitimate distributor reported that shops were opening filled with imitation goods. A private investigator retained by Columbia got himself hired at the retail chain of 16 outlets spanning the southeast Asian nation.
Investigators snuck a GPS transmitter on a delivery truck. They found the fakes were coming from Cambodia. They alerted Thai authorities, who joined the investigation.
On May 20, officers raided stores in places ranging from Bangkok to the northern area of Changmai to Pattaya, a coastal tourist trap. The next day, authorities descended on Benjawan market in the dusty town of Aranyaprathet, gateway to semi-legal casinos placed between Thai and Cambodian border checkpoints.
Police began confiscating products and arrested Chheng, age unknown, detaining her in a van. "The situation at the raid went bad," the investigator wrote.
Officers realized they'd have to book Chheng in Bangkok instead of taking her to the local police station. "Hundreds of people in that area would have gone to the police station and surrounded us," the investigator wrote, "forcing the police and us to release Ms. Chheng."
On the road to Bangkok, calls poured in from Thai officials, the investigator wrote, requesting Chheng's release without charges. Officers and investigators escorting Chheng called their own high-ranking contacts, who prevailed. The team managed to book Chheng in Bangkok.
In all, authorities seized more than 4,700 counterfeit Columbia products, likely made in Cambodia and Vietnam, from four stores and two related warehouses, the company said. Police are seeking the chain's owner.
Columbia managers say counterfeiting injures consumers who buy knock-offs that don't provide high-level protection from the elements. Product piracy undermines legitimate businesses and jobs, they say, supporting factories that may abuse workers, hire children and pollute surroundings.
"We believe it's a matter of principle and integrity to protect loyal Columbia customers from imposters," said Tim Boyle, Columbia president and chief executive.
-- Richard Read,
richread@aol.com
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