Many years ago merchants created their own 'brands' as a mark of recognition and respect for quality.

This practice continues today with many hundreds of thousands of brands in existence. It's widely recognised that by purchasing a popular brand the buyer is assured of quality and has the security of knowing that should they for some reason be dissatisfied with branded product purchased the manufacturer can be approached for a remedy to the problem.

It takes a good deal of investment and skill to get new products designed and onto the market. Of course this investment affects the price of the goods when they are sold and other incremental expenses such as advertising often add further to the costs of placing products in the hands of the consumer.

What is generally not recognised though is that legitimate manufacturers and retailers pay taxes and contribute to the local economy.

When pirate goods or counterfeits come to market they are sold at much cheaper prices than the genuine branded goods they imitate. This process leads to a 'loose-loose' situation where the buyer looses out on quality and the brand owner looses out on sales. I fact the only winner in this scenario is the counterfeiter. Nobody likes to see people making money and not working for it. If you want to see people taking it easy and living the high life without facing up to their social responsibilities then carry on wasting your money on fakes. There are plenty of people out there willing to take your money off you by all manner of crooked means!