Why do we have so many counterfeit goods in the market mostly from Asia?

this one is a fun one. Designer goods are really just cheap goods that have been differentiated. This allows the producers to have market power, that is price setting power not found in competitive markets. However, these goods are cheap, I mean by that they are really inexpensive to make, they have low variable costs. The market power is really artificial by advertising or tastes and not due to really economic characteristics. So, in the US the market power is protected by law, patent law, this allows the producers to use pricing power. However, in Asia the patents are not enforced so producers trying to charge the higher price to receive economic profit are then under-cut by companies that can make the good for the same price. The price you see overseas is what the price really would be if the monopoly that the designer companies have were not protected by patent laws, and this is the price you would be paying in the US because this is really the competitive price. So when designer, movie, and music persons are crying about, just remember they are protecting their monopoly so they can over-charge and gain monopoly profits.