Oh dear. It seems that some enterprising Jamaicans are trying to capitalize on the ongoing obsession with Clarks shoes. Yesterday, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons, Intellectual Property division of the police busted a counterfeit manufacturing operation that is apparently producing fake Clarks.
According to the police’s Corporate Communications Unit (CCU) about 3:00 pm the Anti-Trafficking in Persons, Intellectual Property (A-TIP-IP) vice squad went to a building in downtown Kingston where several pairs of various models of fake Clarks were found in various stages of production; they were being manufactured for the local and export market.
The items seized are several pairs of fake Clarks shoes, screen print material, stamper (Clarks brand) and a grinding machine.
If only this creative energy could be directed somewhere positive.
Jamaican Journal 
If your creative energy is in making very good copies, then how do you leverage that? Most people do not know copyright rules in detail. However, governments do. So, is the solution that the government sets up ‘workshops’ where copying is managed? It may mean lowering earnings, but zero risk of capture. If the idea is import substitution, that’d be good in itself. If we were good enough to export, even under a brand name such as ‘Clerks’, say, even better. Or, we do the harder thing of getting Clark’s et al to invest in Jamaica.