I started reading the below article because it is about IP infringement, but I got sidetracked very quickly. Sorry to be an anal bastard, but I used to be an editor, and this stuff still bothers me:
Six people were arrested on Wednesday for importing nearly $20 million worth of counterfeit designer urban street wear and hip-hop style clothing into the United States from China, federal authorities said.
The six were arrested in New Jersey, California and New York, and charged with conspiring to import clothing with fake labels like "RocaWear," "Coogi" and "Evisu" and then laundering the proceeds between 2003 and 2007, U.S. prosecutors said.
Those arrested included a man based in China who manufactured and imported the clothing and a freight forwarder in Los Angeles, who transported the clothing to New York where it was sold to wholesale and retail customers.
FBI confidential informants bought some of the fake clothing at cheap prices at stores in New York and intercepted telephone calls by some of the defendants conducted in Arabic and e-mails detailing the imports, according to the complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court.
First, what the &@$* does "urban street wear" mean? I understand that "urban" is the preferred code-word these days for "black" (stupid as that is), but the whole "street wear" thing baffles me. Do you have a specific "street" wardrobe? Do you have an urban "home" set of clothes?
Second, someone please tell me what "hip-hop style clothing" is. Are we talking baggy, earth toned clothes? Is there "classic rock style clothing" and "classical music style clothing" out there that I can buy, 'cause I'm not into hip-hop. On the other hand, there is grunge . . .
Third, there are no such things as "fake labels" and "fake clothing". I have been guilty of this common usage in the past; it's pervasive but wrong. The clothes are real, the label is real. Both of these things fulfil the respective function intended. What's fake or counterfeit is the brand on the label that is in turn affixed to the clothing in question.
When I read about fake clothing, I get a mental image of someone going into a retail store, picking up what appears to be a serviceable sweater, and attempting to try it on. Lo and behold! That's not a real sweater, but a cheap tablecloth marked up and put in the sweater bin; it doesn't even have arm holes. It's fake clothing.
Fourth, why does this article bother to tell us in what language the defendants' phone calls were conducted? If it was English, would it have been mentioned? How about Spanish? Hmm, something tells me that what the writer really wanted us to pick up on was the specific language here: Arabic. Gee, profiling much? Perhaps the writer here wanted us to take the following terms: Fake Stuff–China–Arabic-Money Laundering and make some sort of dark and paranoid conclusions.