Ying Ying

Famous foreign-branded products began to flood the Chinese market as the nation's pace of opening and reform accelerated in the late 1990s.

Many fake products, claiming to be foreign goods, also began to rear their ugly heads.

But counterfeiters are now facing a tougher time, as the industrial and commercial authorities intensify their crackdown.

Producers of fake products have used a number of tricks over the past three or four years, finding "legal" or underhand means to sell fake goods by registering companies with names similar to certain well-known trademarks, said Lu Pushun, secretary-general of the China branch of the International Association of Intellectual Property Rights Protection.

Lu accused these people of profiting from famous brand names.

Counterfeited goods are a major headache, especially when they are disguised by a "legal" face.

Surprise 'twin'

France's Pierre Cardin, the French fashion icon, was surprised that he has many "twin brothers" in China.

Cardin found a two-metre high bulletin board reading "Italian Pierre Cardin (Hong Kong) International" at an international fashion show in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in June 2001.

Cardin reportedly remarked: "I don't have such a company."

Later, Cardin and his Chinese representatives found that dozens of companies had registered corporate names under the Chinese translation of Pierre Cardin or similar names, resulting in massive sales of counterfeit Pierre Cardin goods in large department stores.

Cardin, who has set up operations around the globe from China to Japan and Russia, has a wide-ranging portfolio - from designing furniture, wallets and crockery to owning world-famous restaurant Maxim's.

Despite having his fingers in so many pies, Cardin has nothing to do with Shanghai-based London Pierre Cardin Fashion, Guangdong-based US Pierre Cardin (Hong Kong) Fashion Group, French Pierre Cardin (Hong Kong) Fashion Group and Hong Kong Pierre Cardin Fashion, let alone Pierre Jieni, Pietkadin and Pierecardin.

These fake goods have not only been found across China, but are actually sold on a greater scale than authentic Pierre Cardin products, according to the company's representatives in China.

Cardin wrote a letter of complaint to Vice-Premier Wu Yi in September, 2003.

"As a Frenchman who has a unique deep love of China, I have been involved in the Chinese market for more than two decades," Cardin told the vice-premier.

"However, I have found lots of counterfeits or imitations of Pierre Cardin products sold in large stores in China and many companies even registered corporation names using the translated name of Pierre Cardin.

"The counterfeits not only take up Pierre Cardin's market share but damage its reputation by selling shoddy goods," Cardin wrote.

The letter was later delivered to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and a nationwide crackdown started against the counterfeits of Pierre Cardin and other well-known brands.

The Fair Trade Bureau of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce held a national meeting in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, in early April to step up the fight against unfair competition cases related to eight famous enterprises including Pierre Cardin.

Dozens of companies registered with names or trademarks the same or similar to Pierre Cardin were urged to either change their names or close.

Cardin wrote two letters of acknowledgement to Vice-Premier Wu Yi and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce in late April.

Tucano

Established in Rome by Riccardo Montali and his family in 1932, Tucano, meaning "toucan" in Portuguese, using the logo of the rare and stylish exotic South American bird, symbolizing clarity of elegant fashion, individuality and panache.

Dongguan Take Seven Fashion Co has become the general agent of the renowned Italian brand Tucano on the Chinese mainland since the early 1990s.

Located in Guangdong Province, Dongguan Take Seven Fashion has produced clothing for men, women and children, as well as decorations.

But the famous Italian brand Tucano has seen dozens of imitators in China, including companies which registered their corporate names through the reproduction, imitation or the translation of this well-known trademark.

There are about 40 trademarks based on translations and imitations of Tucano in China.

Take Seven spends more than 5 million yuan (US$602,000) annually to fight counterfeit products.

The sales volume of more than 40 stores selling counterfeit Tucano products reached around 200 million yuan (US$24 million) annually in Shanghai alone.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce has listed the Tucano trademark infringement case as one of its major unfair competition cases in 2004 and an investigation is underway.

Panasonic

Two counterfeiters have registered a company in Hong Kong under the name of Hong Kong Panasonic Co Ltd and entrusted an enterprise in Shunde of Guangdong Province to manufacture, then labelling its products with the Panasonic trademark and selling them nationwide.

In fact, the registered company had nothing to do with Japan's famous Matsushita Corporation.

"This created confusion," Panasonic copyright officials were reported to have complained, "customers cannot tell which is the real product and maybe think ours is the fake," after this batch of fake goods was sold in more than 20 chain stores across the nation.

However, a Panasonic copyright official reportedly said, that considering the costs, they would "only act against fake goods when it affects our market share."

Panasonic mainly depends on its legal department to clamp down on fake goods, "the cost will be too high if we trust a lawyer's firm to do it," the official said.

"Facing a trivial infringement you don't know whether to fight it or not," the official was quoted as saying by a circular at a seminar on intellectual property rights protection in Beijing in late November.

"They are just like little wood-nibbling worms. Should you turn a blind eye to them, they may eat out a whole table before you come to find out."

"But you can not simply deal with all fake goods using your brand, for the cost is too high and we don't have enough hands. What's worse, even though you launch strikes it's hard for you to get compensation," the official said.

(China Daily 12/06/2004 page5)

2013-07-17