Nehru Place, Gaffar Market notorious markets for piracy: US

These markets are known for dealing in large volumes of pirated software, pirated optical media and counterfeit goods

The US has identified Nehru Place and Gaffar Market in New Delhi along with four others in India as "notorious markets" in global piracy and violation of intellectual property rights (IPR).

Manish Market and Lamington Road in Mumbai, and Chenoy Trade Center and Hong Kong Bazar in Hyderabad are the other four "notorious markets" identified by the US Trade Representatives in its report released yesterday.

"Nehru Place continues to be a prominent example of the numerous markets in major cities throughout India that are known for dealing in large volumes of pirated software, pirated optical media containing movies and music, and counterfeit goods," said report on notorious markets.

"The markets we have identified unfairly take from these American workers, diminishing the value and saleability of their work and threatening their jobs. And some of the counterfeit goods sold in the identified physical markets, from medicines and personal care products to automotive parts, can even threaten the health and safety of consumers," US Trade Representatives Mike Froman said.

"The marketplaces identified here warrant the immediate attention of our trading partners," Froman said.

According to the report, "2013 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets" Gaffar Market is rife with counterfeit clothing, shoes, cosmetics, electronics, and other products, most of which are imported into India.

Markets such as Manish Market and Lamington Road in Mumbai are semi-organised markets where unauthorised copies of CDs and DVDs (mostly of Hindi movies but also English-language movies) are sold alongside the authorised versions, it said.

"According to reports, shop operators generally are successful at hiding illicit merchandise prior to police raids, and returning it to shelves shortly after a raid. Hyderabad's Chenoy Trade Center (CTC) and Hong Kong Bazar house a large number of shops that sell computer hardware and software," the report said.

"While many shops sell proprietary software under warranty, many smaller shops discretely sell pirated products, including operating system software, electronic office tools, multimedia games, and anti-virus software, as well as DVDs and CDs containing other copyright-infringing content," the USTR said in its report.