Having launched Tamagotchi Plus*, the portable interactive digital pet (retailing in Japan at 2,079 yen, including tax), Bandai Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Taito-ku, Tokyo; President: Takeo Takasu) has been ramping up anti-counterfeiting measures as it gears up for a full-scale roll-out on the global market.
Bandai's first step in this direction, taken on June 21, was to request help from China Local Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision (the administrative authority over product quality control and anti-counterfeiting measures) in Shenzhen Guandong province. Consequently, a Shenzhen factory engaged in production of fake Tamagotchis has been exposed, and the authority has succeeded in confiscating around 50,000 units of counterfeit products and their components (including finished products, semi-finished products, their various components, and packages). The factory in question is likely to be subjected to administrative punishment within about 3 months of the date of the confiscation.
Total shipments of Tamagotchi Plus in Japan over the five months between its launch in March 2004 and the end of August are on course to exceed one million units. The new product has just been released on the market in a total of 15 countries in Europe and Asia, and will make its debut in the North American region on August 15. In parallel with the brisk sales of the genuine article, fake versions have begun to circulate in various Asian countries: to date, the presence of these fakes has been confirmed in six countries: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore. Although the imitations come in several versions, what they have in common is poor quality: among other defects, their parenting function and communication function are faulty.
Bandai is of the opinion that the counterfeiter recently exposed in China is just one of plural companies active on this front. Aiming to prevent a flood of Tamagotchi Plus fakes, Bandai is going all-out to identify the firms manufacturing, distributing and marketing the imitations, not only exposing them to the authorities, but also mounting a concerted crackdown along civil and criminal actions.
*Tamagotchi Plus
Tamagotchi Plus is a portable digital pet that grows up under its owner's care: its upbringing also determines the kind of character it grows up to become. A built-in infrared communication function (known as "Tamacom" for short) opens up a whole new interactive dimension, enabling the digital pet to communicate with other Tamagotchis, making new friends, exchanging presents, and -- if friendship blossoms into true love ?Eeven producing the next generation.
As of July 20, 2004, Tamagotchi Plus (in overseas,named Tamagotchi connexion) is on sale in the following territories:
Japan, France, UK, Spain, Portugal, Belgium,Netherlands, Luxembourg,Ireland, Germany, Taiwan, Australia, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Switzerland, Austria
