Luxury brands sue Beijing's Silk Alley

A woman tries on a necklace as another looks on yesterday in Beijing at the Silk Street shopping mall, formerly known as Silk Alley and renowned for selling counterfeit merchandise. Chanel and four other international luxury brands have sued Silk Alley for allegedly selling pirated copies of their products, state media said. PHOTO: AFP

Chanel and four other international luxury brands have sued Beijing's Silk Alley, visited by masses of tourists every day, for allegedly selling pirated copies of their products, state media said yesterday.

The five companies are asking for 2.5 million yuan (US$300,000) in a suit filed at Beijing's Number Two Intermediate People's Court against Xiushui Haosen Clothing Market Co, the market's manager, the Beijing Times reported.

The suit was filed on Tuesday by lawyers representing Chanel, Prada, Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Gucci, according to the paper.

The lawyers brought several boxes of brand-name bags and purses which they said were pirated copies of the five companies' products and had been purchased at the Silk Alley, the paper said.

The companies' lawyers argued that as the developer and manager of the market, it was in Xiushui Haosen's power to stop the sale of counterfeit goods.

Since it began as an open-air market in 1985, Silk Alley has been popular with overseas tourists who flocked to its stalls to buy counterfeit and knock-off luxury clothes and accessories.

Xiushui Haosen tore down the old but highly profitable market in January, moving the stalls to a new undercover building instead.

According to experts, China produces some 70 percent of the world's counterfeit goods -- with pirated music and video discs and all manner of fake brand-named products widely available.

Four years after China entered the WTO, intellectual property infringements are consistently listed as a top concern among foreign companies operating in the country.

The companies reportedly involved in the case could not immediately be reached yesterday for comment.