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This article was first published 12 years ago

PHOTOS: China's counterfeit culture!

Last updated on: August 23, 2011 08:18 IST


Photographs: Reuters

Customers and employees are seen in a fake Apple store in Kunming, Yunnan province.

Chinese counterfeiters have had a field day pumping out knockoffs of Apple Inc's best-selling iPhones and iPads, but one appears to have gone a step further -- a near flawless fake Apple Store that even employees believe is the real deal.

Complete with the white Apple logo, wooden tables and cheery staff claiming they work for the iPhone maker, the store looks every bit like Apple Stores found all over the world, according to a 27-year-old American blogger living in the city blogger, who stumbled upon the store and goes by the name 'BirdAbroad'.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

Shopkeepers selling fake designer bags wait for customers at a shopping mall in Beijing.

China urged patience from the developed world as it seeks to stop infringements of patents, copyrights and other intellectual property.

State Councillor Chen Zhili told a forum on intellectual property China was committed to strengthening intellectual property protections, but also urged wealthy countries to share more technology and show more understanding.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

A shopper walks past cheap imitation watches displayed at a shopping area in Shanghai.

China launched a sting operation targeting counterfeit goods about a month ago.

Nearly 120,000 governmental enforcers overhauled 254,000 businesses, destroyed 486 underground factories turning out fake goods, investigated 2,162 cases of trademark violations, confiscated 1.66 million fake trademarks, destroyed 667,000 counterfeit goods, and charged two violators with intellectual property-related crime.

China has also banned the sale of top luxury brands outside Beijing chain stores - whether or not they are genuine items.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

Counterfeit goods seized by the United States government are shown on display at the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center in northern Virginia.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates the amount of counterfeit goods and pirated copyrights in world trade grew from about $100 billion in 2001 to about $250 billion in 2007, the last year for which they have made an estimate.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

Fake iPhones are displayed at a mobile phone stall in Shanghai,

The newest version of Apple Inc's popular iPhone has already hit the Chinese market -- the fake market that is.

The 'hiPhone 5' is selling for as little as 200 yuan ($31) on China's top e-commerce platform Taobao, which is owned by Alibaba Group.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

A customer looks at the placement of study room at a furniture store in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan province.

The store, which resembles an outlet of Swedish furniture giant Ikea, is one of a number of Chinese businesses replicating the look, feel and service of successful Western retail concepts.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

A counterfeit Apple iPhone, which sold for RMB450 ($66), is shown on top of other counterfeit phones with rough packing at a mall selling electronics in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province.

Apple computer, whose popular iPhone is widely copied in China, isn't the only foreign handset maker to suffer at the hands of counterfeiters.

Knock-offs of Samsung, Nokia and Motorola products are all sold openly throughout China.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

A fake LVMH handbag purchased and shipped from a China based online website is displayed to the photographer outside a Louis Vuitton store in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

A customer poses with a counterfeit 'I'm Not A Plastic Bag' bag at a store in Shanghai.

The launch of the 'I'm Not A Plastic Bag' bag, by English designer Anya Hindmarch, has been cancelled in Shanghai due to concerns for customer safety after a stampede left several shoppers injured at it's launch in Taiwan, local media reported.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

Goods are displayed at a shop in Xiahe, western China's Gansu province August 14, 2006. The counterfeit and low-quality goods on offer in Xiahe highlight the challenges of increasing consumption in rural areas.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

A fake LVMH handbag (R) purchased and shipped from a China-based online web site is pictured next to products on display at a Louis Vuitton store in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates the amount of counterfeit goods and pirated copyrights in world trade grew from about $100 billion in 2001 to about $300 billion in 2011.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

People suspected of selling counterfeit renminbi banknotes are detained at a police station in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan province.

Some 200,000 counterfeit renminbi banknotes were seized when three suspects made a deal at a hotel, local media reported.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

A customer looks at fake foreign brand shoes inside a store at Baiyun World Leather Market in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

Confiscated cigarettes are seen before being destroyed during a campaign against fake tobacco products in Changzhi, Shanxi province.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

Fake foreign brand handbags are displayed inside a store at Baiyun World Leather Market in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

Employees of German sanitary systems company Hans Grohe AG use a heavy roller to destroy counterfeit fittings of plumbing and bathroom equipment made in China near the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Hans Grohe AG demanded a reinforcement of European legislation on counterfeiting.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

Goods are displayed at a shop in Xiahe, western China's Gansu province.

The counterfeit and low-quality goods on offer in Xiahe highlight the challenges of increasing consumption in rural areas.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

Counterfeit goods bearing Burberry name tags are seized by customs officials inside a warehouse in Hong Kong July 27, 2005.

Hong Kong Customs smashed a large syndicate of counterfeit goods, resulting in the seizure of HK$62.5 million worth of countercfeit clothes and leather goods, with some of them destined for Japan.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

Fake foreign brand ties are displayed inside a store at Baiyun World Leather Market in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

Chinese men try to tell the difference in the packaging of genuine and counterfeit cigarettes at a Consumer Rights Protection Day event in Guangzhou.

Consumer awareness has risen sharply in recent years as China's population has gotten richer and begun to depend on courts and the media to press its claims.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

A bulldozer crushes pirated cosmetics bottles and other comsumer products in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

More than $72,000 worth of pirated goods including salt, cosmetics, and melon seeds were destroyed recently.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

A man sells pirated DVDs at an alley in Beijing.

US officials had told China that Washington does not consider it acceptable for China to suspend the showing of American-made movies.

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China's counterfeit culture!


Photographs: Reuters

A vendor arranges pirated Microsoft software at a store in Beijing.