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– Here’s the store, says Yasemin Kenaroğlu.
TV 2 meets the Turkish lawyer in the heart of the pirate capital of Europe, Istanbul. He represents some of the world’s biggest brands in everything from the automotive industry, fashion and luxury goods, to the pharmaceutical industry.
He has taken us to a store, which once sold fake watches.
His client, a well-known luxury brand, asked him to search the store to get hold of the fake watches.
Held captive
– I went there with two policemen. While we were counting and registering the clocks, the officials received a phone call and then left the store, Kenaroğlu tells TV 2.
CAUGHT: Attorney Yasemine Kenaroğlu outside the premises of the store where she was detained during a search. Photo: Simen Askjer / TV 2
– I was alone in the store. When I wanted to take out the fake watches, the ones in the store stopped me, says Kenaroğlu.
– They said they wouldn’t let me leave the store with the bells, and I stayed there for 6-7 hours before a riot police came and saved me, continues.
– It was one of the most difficult experiences I have had in my working life.
Despite finding hundreds of counterfeit watches in the store, the attorney and her client lost the case in court and the sellers were able to continue business as if nothing had happened, according to the attorney.
Here TV 2 receives an offer to buy a fake Rolex watch
Cynical and dangerous industry
Istanbul in Turkey is a tourist attraction, a commercial center in Europe, and a mecca for those who produce and sell counterfeit brands.
READ THE SPECIAL: “Here you try to sell TV 2 a fake watch”
FALSE: Production of fake luxury bags in a back room in Istanbul. Photo: Finn Erik Robstad / TV 2
In various reports, TV 2 has used a hidden camera to show the back of the world’s largest criminal industry. Here, the culprits use, among other things, Syrian refugees to make their products, and those who try to oppose the pirate industry live dangerously.
“In theory, piracy is prohibited in Turkey and the penalty is fines or imprisonment, but in practice the law is not applied,” Yasemin Kenaroğlu told TV 2.
FALSE: Leather remnants of the well-known pattern used by luxury designer Louis Vuitton. Photo: Simen Askjer / TV 2
WASTE: Waste leather from counterfeit. Here marked with Benetton. Photo: Simen Askjer / TV 2
COUNTERFEIT: Cardboard boxes with counterfeit products ready for export. Photo: Simen Askjer / TV 2
FALSE: High activity on a counterfeit goods shopping street in Istanbul. Photo: Simen Askjer / TV 2
Loading images downloading pirated goods, Istanbul, Turkey Photo: Simen Askjer / TV 2
Kenaroğlu claims that there is no help from the Turkish authorities in this fight.
– There are areas that are known as paradise on earth for pirates. Everyone knows what they are doing, including the authorities, the courts, the brand owners. But they have been able to keep up for many years and earn a lot of money every day, and nobody does anything about it, says Kenaroğlu.
Hard to search for counterfeiters
The Turkish lawyer says the legislation is designed in a way that makes it difficult to prosecute counterfeiters.
To have a court hearing, attorneys must present a sales receipt or a card transaction receipt for a purchase that has been completed within the last 24 hours, along with the product. The receipt must indicate the correct address of the store where the product was purchased.
In addition, you must have a report from an expert indicating that the product is fake.
– All this must be obtained in less than 24 hours to obtain a court order allowing a search, says Kenaroğlu, clearly expressed.
– We tried to do something about it, but they have taken all our instruments from us. We are trying to win a battle, but we are without swords, shields and armor, continue.
Requires a change in the law in Norway
Attorney Trygve M. Gravdahl from the Ræder Law Firm believes that Norwegian consumers are an important part of maintaining the criminal industry in Turkey.
– Those who produce and those who sell pirated products are completely dependent on getting sales on this. Norway and the Norwegians are an attractive country because we have high purchasing power, says Gravdahl.
ATTORNEY: Intellectual Property Rights Attorney Trygve M. Gravdahl at Ræder. Photo: Simen Askjer / TV 2
It reminds us that we live in a globalized world where the trading of these products is easily done online.
– We have good advice and we spend a lot of money buying personal products. That is why Norway and the Norwegians are an attractive country, he says.
Today it is allowed for a private individual to buy counterfeit products for personal use. The lawyer will forbid it.
– A prohibition in itself will have a preventive effect. We know that Norwegians generally have a pretty lax attitude to this with pirated copies. There are quite a few who think it’s perfectly fine, Gravdahl says.
– We believe that the reason for this may also be that it is not prohibited.
“Most people want to avoid doing something that is forbidden,” Gravdahl says, continuing:
– By introducing a ban, customs will have the opportunity to stop more individual shipments than they can do today. In addition, they will be able to prevent the type of importation that they do today by sending small packages under the pretext of being for private use;
