By Kenfrey Kiberenge

An acquaintance recently bought a Nokla phone thinking it was Nokia.At a glance the phone could pass for a Nokia but on close scrutiny one realises it is not.

Today, the market is awash with counterfeits that resemble genuine products.

Sony is imitated as Sqny and Sonny while Panosoanic is presented as Panasonic. Previously, manufacturers were more concerned with counterfeiters producing fake products with their brand name. Today, the cheats have become more cunning, taking advantage of the already marketed names to produce their version.

They either alter the arrangement of the letters or substitute one of the letters for their product to appear real. Manufacturers partly blame the country’s laws, which they say are not specific when it comes to counterfeiters or those selling counterfeit products.

"These illicit products continue being sold and nothing happens to those selling them," said Nokia East and Central Africa Communications Manager Dorothy Ooko.

But the Government says it has never received such complaints.

"Actually, this is what I would call the first complainant," said Michael Onyancha, the acting director at the department of Weights and Measures. Mainly targeted are the high-quality, foreign products, which have won the hearts of most consumers and are regarded the best.

"Counterfeiters are greedy and want to ride on the intellectual property rights of others so they can make quick money without caring for the consequences or the harm they cause the gullible consumers," says Ooko.

She said Nokia has become an easy target due to its quality products. "We are affected locally and globally too," she said.

The trend is rampant in Kenya, which has seen shops stocked with Like, Naik and Hike to woo Nike customers. Addidas, Daiads, Sdidsa or Adadis target those who buy Adidas products. Puma has to contend with fake versions trading under Pmua, Tuna, Fuma and Punk brands.

Several clones of Nokia phones have made their way into the local market from Chinese companies via Dubai, says Ooko.

The cover of the fake Nokia N95, for instance, is blurry and inscribed with Nokia label but on the inside, the letter ‘I’ in Nokia is replaced with ‘L’ to read Nokla.

To beguile the consumers, the phone is a dual-SIM, has a 5-megapixel camera, touch-screen display and costs about Sh5,000.

This gives it an edge over the original Nokia N95 that costs about Sh47,000. But on the flipside, the battery lasts less than 10 minutes during talk time and about three hours on standby mode. This is in contrast to the genuine N95 that can support six hours of talk time and 280 hours on standby.

The counterfeit market has taken many shapes over the years. It is estimated that Kenya loses between Sh50 billion and Sh70 billion of GDP because of sale of counterfeit goods.

LG’s Regional Marketing Manager George Mudhune says their products, meant for other markets, are finding their way into the country thus impacting negatively on dealers and damaging the LG brand. And since grey goods (counterfeits) do not meet local specifications, LG and its Home Appliances Distributor, Hotpoint Appliances, say they are unable to offer back-up service as they only stock parts for the models they import.

Mudhune is petitioning the Government to pass necessary laws to combat influx of sub-standard goods.

"We urge the Government to pass necessary laws that will go a long way in protecting genuine business. The measures should be punitive enough to discourage importation of fake products," he said.

But Onyancha said the Anti-Counterfeit Act was enacted and operationalised in July by Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey. "All they have to do is to lodge a complaint with my office and then we shall see if they have a case and take up the matter from there," said Onyancha.

Former Trade Minister Mukhisa Kituyi said the most affected areas include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial designs, topographies of integrated circuits, geographical indications and software.

"Whereas external sources are mainly imports that constitute the infringement of trademarks, patents, copyrights and geographical indication, internal sources mainly constitute use of franchise containers and package materials," said Kituyi.

To beat the cheats, LG has now come up with a plan where consumers will enjoy longer warranty periods of up to three years on premium merchandise after LG unveiled new warranty certificates. This is in addition to the access to annual free services they have been getting. "We will always strive to offer competitive prices for our products," said Rahul Kochhar, Hotpoint Appliances head of marketing.