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Hong Kong cracks down on fake goods prior to WTO talks

As Hong Kong prepares for a global summit about free trade next week, it has started to worry that commerce is a little too free in this bustling city of sky-scrapers and shopping malls.

The government is cracking down on vendors selling fake goods at markets where shoppers can pick up Louis Vuitton handbags, Rolex watches and silky Hermes ties -- all for just a fraction of what the real ones cost.

A special action team of 108 people has already begun sweeping the markets ahead of the WTO summit from Dec. 13 to Dec. 18, said Samson Chiu, a divisional commander of the intellectual-property investigation bureau of the Customs Department.

Authorities seem to be making a special push during the WTO summit and year-end holidays.

"We are anticipating, during this period until the end of the year, normally there will be more tourists and people coming to Hong Kong," Chiu said. "So we have to step up our enforcement measures."

Customs officials recently raided six storerooms for counterfeit goods in Mongkok, a popular shopping area, and seized around 9,000 items, including fake Gucci, Chanel and Fendi items, Chiu said.

Officials here want to show they are serious about piracy. Hong Kong calls itself "Asia's World City" -- a cosmopolitan place with a strong rule of law. It sets the territory apart from cities in mainland China, where counterfeiting is rampant.

Hong Kong recently enlisted two of the world's biggest action movie stars in its campaign against fakes.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan are appearing in a 30-second public service announcement on Hong Kong television.

As the men rumble down a highway together on motorcycles dodging explosions, Chan says, "When you buy pirated movies and music, you support criminals!"

Schwarzenegger chips in: "Let's terminate it!"

The action hero turned California governor introduced the ad recently while in Hong Kong during a trade tour. He acknowled-ged it's tough to stop the counterfeit industry because there are so many willing buyers.

"I know that even from our own trade mission, people have been traveling in the various different cities and going into those shops and buying those goods," he said.

Chiu said that the vendors have elaborate systems that help them avoid arrest. They employ lookouts and frequently relocate storerooms. In some markets, the goods are displayed on the street. Customers pick out what they want from catalogues and the goods are later delivered. Sometimes, shoppers are led to back-alley showrooms full of fakes.

Hong Kong has tried to dissuade people from buying fakes by branding them as uncool.

"We're hoping to create a sort of peer pressure where people don't think it's necessarily right to show off about buying fakes," said Stephen Selby, director of Hong Kong's Intellectual Property Department.

One TV campaign features a glamorous woman flaunting flamboyant designer clothes in a subway car. Then a man's voice says, "Hey baby, think you can fool us with all those things? Come on. Get real. You are what you wear."

Most of the goods seized in the custom's recent raid originated in mainland China, Chiu said.
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