Vocabulary task

14. Find words or expressions in paragraphs 2 and 3 that mean:

a) the most important airline

b) a first action towards something

c) made up of several separate parts

d) intended takeover

15. Match the two halves of the following sentences (paragraphs 5 and 6).

a) A large part of the synergy benefits is planned ...

b) These networks are centred...

c) Wherever possible the two airlines are seeking...

d) Synergy benefits in international commercial affairs in the first year to March 312005 had totalled €8.3m, up …

1 ... from the €7m originally forecast.

2 ... to rent offices and ticket offices jointly.

3 ... to come from increased revenues generated by combining of the two groups’ global networks.

4 ... on its twin hubs at Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Schiphol airports.

Speaking task

16. Answer the questions:

1) Where could the savings be made, and greater purchasing power gained, if your company, or a company you know well, merged with an important competitor?

2) Which sorts of businesses do you think are benefiting, and which businesses do you think are losing out from a merger strategy? Why is this?

8. Counterfeiting.

Counterfeiters ignore patents, which protect intellectual property, copyright and trademarks, by producing cheap copies or fakes of branded goods. These infringements are openly practised daily, affecting many businesses. Digitisation and the internet have made it easier than ever to mass reproduce and distribute quality counterfeit products. The music industry in particular claims to be losing millions because of file sharing systems which allow the downloading of music of charge.

Key words: counterfeiter, infringement, trademark, fake, copyright, sweatshops.

1. Below is a list of copyright infringements. In pairs, rank them according to which ones you consider to be the most dishonest.

- buying a fake Rolex watch;

- photocopying pages from a published book;

- lending a book you enjoyed to a friend to read;

- downloading music from an internet file-sharing system;

- making a digital copy of a CD or DVD;

- showing a video to a group of people for money;

Listening task.

2. Listen to two people talk o about counterfeiting. What examples of copyright infringement do they mention? Listen again and answer the questions.

According to the first speaker:

1) How does counterfeiting benefit consumers?

2) Why would she buy copies of brands?

According to the second speaker:

1) Which industries are affected by the problem in the European Union?

2) What are the most serious consequences of counterfeiting?

3) How are high prices of branded goods justified?

Which of the speakers are you most likely to agree with? Why?

Reading task.

3. Quickly scan the text below and underline examples of counterfeiting. Complete the text with the following sentences:

a) However, brand owners often willingly hand over production masters to counterfeiters without realising it.

b) As long as there is a market for a product the copycats will, imitate it.

c) Peter Lowe, head of the CIB, reckons that some $25bn worth of counterfeit goods, are traded each year over the internet.

d) In recent years the counterfeiters have gone from strength to strength.

e) Some of these, borrowed from security devices developed for use on dollar bills, are clearly visible and are intended to help consumers distinguish fakes from genuine goods.

f) Procter & Gamble reckons it spends $3m a year fighting the copycats.

*Copyright infringement

Counterfeiting is on the increase. Companies ignore it at their peril.

To most people, counterfeiting means defrauding. (Such rights are legally cdv- forged currency. But counterfeiters ered by patents (for inventions), copy­right (for artistic works and software), most people, counterfeiting means forged currency. But counterfeiters are copying an ever-widening range of products. For some time they have been churning out imitation designer fash­ion, software and CDs. Now they are copying medicines, mobile phones, food and drink, car parts and even tobacco. 1) … .

2) … . New technology has broadened the range of goods that are vulnerable to copying. It has dramati­cally improved their quality, as well as lowering their cost of production. Where once counterfeits were cheap and shoddy imitations of the real thing, today their packaging and contents (especially for digital products such as software, music CDs and DVDs) often mean they are almost indistinguishable from the genuine article.

A counterfeit, by definition, is some­thing that is copied or imitated without the perpetrator having the right to do it and with the purpose of deceiving or trademarks (for words, pictures, symbols and industrial designs) and other forms of intellectual-property protection.

Counterfeiting is as diverse as any legal business, ranging from back-street sweatshops to full-scale factories. Counterfeiters often get their goods by bribing employees in a company with a valuable brand to hand over manufacturing moulds or master disks for them to copy. 3) …. . One of the most frustrating problems for brand owners is when their licensed suppliers and manufacturers “over-run” production lines without permission and then sell the extra goods on the side.

Distribution networks can be as sim­ple as a stall in the street, or a shop on the other side of the world. The internet has been a great help to counterfeiters, giving them detailed information about which goods to copy and allowing them to link consumers and suppliers with ease. 4 … .

Counterfeiting is not a victimless crime. For a start, legitimate businesses lose sales because of competition from counterfeiters. If their brand loses value (because it is seen as less exclusive or is confused with shoddy imitations), there is a long-term threat to profitability. In addition, firms have to bear the cost of anti-counterfeiting measures. 5) … .

One strategy that companies increasing­ly use is to load their vulnerable prod­ucts with ant-counterfeiting features. 6) …. . Companies also use these features, primarily to help them track their products through the supply chain and to distinguish genuine articles from fakes, especially should they need to take the copycats to court. But .ho amount of effort will ever completely stop the copy­cats. For as long as there is consumer demand, companies will find that imita­tion is the severest form of flattery.

4. Read the text again and answer the following questions.

1) What role has technology played in the expansion of counterfeiting?

2) How do counterfeiters often obtain their production masters?

3) What are the distribution networks for counterfeit products?

4) What effects does counterfeiting have on legal businesses?