A top Dubai Police officer has said he supports making it illegal to purchase fake goods such as handbags, watches and pharmaceuticals, in a move that could force areas such as Karama to shutdown.
Head of quality control at Dubai Police, Major General Abdul Quddus Abdul Razak Obaidli, told Arabian Business customers who know they are buying counterfeit products should be fined similarly to those selling the goods.
“It’s illegal to have the goods in your premises in order to sell it, but when you’re buying [the fake goods] it’s legal,” Obaidli said.
“And if you ask me for my personal opinion, why not [fine the customer too]? If they are buying a good and they know this is a counterfeit product, why not [punish them] similar to copyright law?”
Items such as copied DVDs, music and books are illegal under counterfeit legislation that makes it a criminal offence to either sell or copy others’ intellectual property.
However, fake items such as handbags, watches and electronic goods are governed under trademark law, which states it is only illegal to sell or manufacture such products.
Obaidli said despite it being legal to purchase fake goods, Dubai Police were targeting the customer in a bid to draw awareness to the impact of counterfeit items on the economy and respective industries, as well as potential health and security effects.
A campaign launched last year called Fingerprint appeals to the public’s morality, encouraging them to “do the right thing”.
“It’s awareness, awareness, awareness, focus on stopping the customer from buying the products,” Obaidli said.
“If there is supply of counterfeit products [but] there is no customer that [industry] will be destroyed, that is the only way we are talking about [dealing with the issue].”
Dubai’s Karama area is infamous for selling fake goods as varied as sunglasses, flip flops and souvenirs to high-end leather handbags, while some stores at the Chinese hypermarket Dragon Mart, in International City, also are known to have sold counterfeit goods.
Obaidli defended Dubai Police’s record of raiding known counterfeit sellers, emphasising the customers’ responsibility not to shop there.
He said the UAE copyright, trademark and patent legislation were among the best in the region.
“The law is at an international level, so we don’t have a problem with the law. We will focus purely now on the people to raise the awareness of counterfeit products,” he said.
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