How does a libertarian/anarchist society deal with issues like this?

[doobie]

Just curious how a libertarian/anarchist society would deal with an issue like this; where counterfeit products look exactly like the real ones, but don't meet any kind of safety standards*.

http://www.petzl.com/us/pro/news/2011/02/12/warning-regarding-presence-counterfeit-versions-petzl-products

* These aren't government standards, but industry standards set to ensure safe products that won't snap and take your life.

[Jacobus]

I think that businesses would tend to put out press releases to warn about counterfeit versions of their products.  They would probably try hard to make their product distinguishable from such counterfeits, but if that is difficult or impossible, advise customers only to purchase through their authorized dealers.






See what I did there?   

[Jim Johnson]

There could also be produce registration with the companies.

[Ed]

in theory products and services could be provided using private safety codes and tests and approvals, and safety and performance would only be promised up to those standards, and this WOULD "solve the problem", but there are 2 problems with that solution: A) your right under common law to sue for liability is still there*, In some cases even if you sign a waiver (on top of that, I don't want to have to sign a waiver to buy every little thing) B) courts would still have to settle whether there is still a liability when aspects of said products/services fail that weren't covered by the private codes and tests (unless of course the sellers explicitly said they made no promise for those aspects for which they did not test for or are not covered in their codes)

the weird thing is even if you wanted to do that system, where sellers only promise performance up to the standards they provide, the legislature would still have to pass a law or regulation saying that that would be the extent of liability/tort in the judiciary, in much the same way that the legislature can pass laws defining murder, theft, fraud, and other stuff that you would think would be more of a fundamental issue to courts/common law.
It gets even weirder in that in some cases the courts will find one way regardless of what the laws passed by the legislatures say.

*I'm pretty sure, I ain't no lawyer

[Ed]

note that in said private system recalls could indeed still exist

but then that in itself could still cause a problem with liability in courts - The producers would have clauses in their contracts with distributors reserving the right to mandate a recall should some issue come up in lab tests and/or multiple poisonings/failings-of-products. But on the other hand the distributors might still want to se their product to make their money, and sue saying that the parameters of the recall clause haven't been fulfilled - and then again in the end it would be up to a court decide.

And remember, a judge is only a guy who's trained in LAW (not engineering, food-born-pathology, etc.), and a jury is only 12 random shmucks who were too stupid to get out of jury duty. Whereas laws passed by referendum have a "jury" of EVERYONE... but then of course they have their own problems.

The problem that judges and juries aren't professionals in some science field is part of the reason why arbitration exists.

[Ed]

you know I was answering in terms of safety regulations

but the OP is about counterfeits

anyway - that would be outright fraud, even without copyrights or patent rights  or trade marks

so.... however a libertarian society would deal with fraud?....

[MaineShark]

Just curious how a libertarian/anarchist society would deal with an issue like this; where counterfeit products look exactly like the real ones, but don't meet any kind of safety standards*.

http://www.petzl.com/us/pro/news/2011/02/12/warning-regarding-presence-counterfeit-versions-petzl-products

* These aren't government standards, but industry standards set to ensure safe products that won't snap and take your life.

Counterfeiting a product is fraud, so the counterfeiter owes restitution to those who were defrauded.  They can seek it themselves, or obtain help from others.

Presumably, if there's some group that handles some sort of certification (eg, UL), that group would have a vested interest in fighting back, as fraudulent use of their certification mark would devalue it in the public's opinion, so it's likely that they would take the lead in such matters.  Sort of like how, if someone crashes into my car, my insurance company will pay me, then go after him to recover their costs.

Joe

[Russell Kanning]

in lots of different ways

[Alex Libman]

A free society cannot exist in the stone age; it can only exist to some degree once a sufficient level of economic literacy is reached by a sufficient fraction of the population.

In the 21st century we have (or will soon have) advents like: consumer interest publications, customer feedback Web-sites / wikis / databases, instant searching and data aggregation, smart-phones that can read and cross-reference RFID / signature codes of any product, GPS-enabled databases of local businesses, augmented reality glasses to give you instant facts about what you're looking at, digital payment trails, package tracking, camera and satellite networks tracking shipping containers and vehicles, etc, etc, etc...

Nothing comes out of nowhere and nothing disappears out of sight anymore, everything can be tracked and analyzed (soon with increasingly greater aid of artificial intelligence), and the consumer can utilize independent objective information to aid in all purchasing decisions.  "When in doubt, don't buy" - so the burden falls on the manufacturers and sellers to present a clear and objectively verifiable quality assurance trail.

This decentralized system has considerable advantages over blind faith in an inevitably-corrupt government monopoly providing one-size-fits-all solutions down the barrel of a gun.  Given enough eyeballs, all bugs (or fraudulent sellers) are shallow!