Money

Court tells Silk Street to get rid of its fakes

By Xu Fan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-06 07:57

Market cancels lease of trader jailed for over three years

Silk Street Market is selling itself as wanting to drive out counterfeit name-brand goods, terminating a lease on an area of the emporium that had been used to sell fake designer goods.

Silk Street, which is one of the capital's biggest clothing marketplaces, is eager to kill its reputation as the go-to place for cheap imitations of high-end designer goods.

Chaoyang district court said on Sunday it had told managers at the market, which is also known as Xiushui Market, they should try harder to eradicate the wholesale and retail sale of counterfeit goods by tenant stallholders.

"We discovered the market had management vulnerabilities during the trial of Yang Changjun," said Huang Shuo, a press officer with Chaoyang district court.

Yang Changjun, a former Silk Street Market vendor, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for selling counterfeit handbags that looked like famous brands, including Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Chanel.

Yang began renting a 70-sq-m storeroom in the third basement floor of Silk Street Market in 2007. He was arrested in August 2009 and more than 8,400 counterfeit bags, worth 766,990 yuan, were seized, according to Chaoyang district court.

Huang said the market's managers recently told the court it had terminated the lease of the storeroom Yang had rented and would be looking for a new tenant.

In addition to ending the lease, the market announced it would be reviewing its leasing regulations and studying the duties of market managers and employees in a bid to discourage the sale of fake goods.

According to the court, Yang said the market's former general manager, Wang Zili, had financed his purchase of fake bags and assisted with the rental of the storeroom.

Wang has since been arrested for authorizing the sale of knock-offs and taking bribes, according to Beijing Youth Daily.

Representatives from Louis Vuitton and Gucci appeared in court to show their approval of court proceedings, said Huang.

"They said our court was the first one to send judicial opinions, even though many courts in China have handled such fake brand cases," said Huang.

An insider at the market, who declined to give a name, said senior managers were holding a board meeting to discuss how best to respond to questions from the public and media.