Copycats get Daniel in a rage

JAKARTA: It's often not until your own product is counterfeited that you realize just how piracy attacks intellectual property rights. Television host Daniel Mananta is one person who can describe just how it feels to have his original creations copied and sold by others without permission.

"I'm shocked and angry," Daniel said, as quoted by entertainment Website kapanlagi.com. "*Damn! I love Indonesia' is my personal statement to ask people to start appreciating local products and it ended up being illegally copied by Indonesians."

Under the label Damn! I love Indonesia, the MTV VJ, who will turn 28 next month, offered a clothing line with the sort-of-nationalist message of loving Indonesia as one's homeland. The line, which includes T-shirts with printed graphics such as "I love BTK *batik*", was launched late last year.

Earlier this week a friend of his showed him a Website selling exactly the same products with exactly the same label. For Daniel, what rubs salt in the wound is that the fake versions of his shirts are sold very cheap.

"We *Indonesians* are not cheap," he said emotionally. "We have a cultural heritage that is so valuable that should be appreciated."

Daniel is currently beginning legal action against those who counterfeited his products. - JP