Are Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms a wretched hive of fakes and counterfeits, or has the company really made progress in eradicating counterfeiters from its sites? As the U.S. Trade Representative makes a list of which places on the internet tend to sell fakes, that’s an important question: is Alibaba really doing all that it can to root out knockoffs? [More]
knockoffs
Rio Olympics Selling Knockoff Versions Of Its Own Merchandise
By 8.2.16
In an effort to circumvent efforts by counterfeiters, organizers of the Rio Olympics have created a line of products that are, well, knockoffs of the Games’ official merchandise. [More]
Alibaba Founder Says Chinese Knockoffs Now Better Than The Brands They Impersonate
By 6.14.16
Chinese online retail giant Alibaba Group seems to want to have it both ways with low-cost knockoff products — simultaneously offering a popular portal for sellers of these lookalike items to reach the world and claiming to be actively cracking down on the sale of these same products. The company’s founder now says one the reasons it can’t just shut off this pipeline of too-similar brand-name apparel and tech products is that these China-made items are now just as good or better than the more expensive products they imitate. [More]
‘Sound By Steve’ Is Basically The Same As ‘Beats By Dre,’ Right?
By 9.17.13 — Updated: 9.16.14
Beats by Dre headphones look pretty cool, probably double as earmuffs, and even our audiophile friends over at Consumer Reports think they sound okay. Whether they’re worth the high price tag is up for debate, but most of our readers would probably say “nahh.” Fortunately, you can get that sleek Beats look on a budget. [More]
Counterfeit World Of Warcraft Theme Park Opens In China
By 7.22.11
The Chinese may have been the first to invent gunpowder and delicious pork-filled fried dumplings, but they have not caught up to the rest of the world when it comes to respecting intellectual property rights. Case in point, the recent opening of an entire themepark dedicated to World of Warcraft and Starcraft, two of the most popular online games in the world, in the Changzhou, Jiangsu province. It’s a sprawling $30 million megaplex spanning 600,000 square meters that aspires to compete with Disney and Universal Studios as a global theme park destination. And it’s a total knockoff. They didn’t pay Blizzard, the company behind those two games, a dime. [More]
Proposed NYC Law Could Send Buyers Of Knockoff Handbags To Jail
By 4.26.11
The sidewalks of lower Manhattan, especially Chinatown, are filled with vendors selling genuine faux Louis Vuitton bags “Ugggs” boots and Ronex watches. One city councilwoman from that neighborhood is so fed up of trying to fight the problem from the supply side that she’s introducing new legislation that would attempt to curb demand by making it illegal to purchase counterfeit merchandise. [More]
Meet The Top 10 Chinese Knockoffs
By 6.22.10
While the NY Times picks on a small apparel company over the logo of a dead newspaper and the National Pork Board wants you to know that Unicorn is not the other white meat, countless companies in China are actually infringing on trademarks, often with hilarious results. [More]
Burlington Coat Factory Supplier Caught Gluing Designer Labels To Walmart Coats
By 3.6.09
A CBS investigation has uncovered some Walmart and Macy’s coats being sold at Burlington Coat Factor — disguised as more expensive designer brands. Apparently, some jackass at a coat supplier thought it would be a good idea to glue Perry Ellis labels on cheap coats. As you can imagine, both Burlington Coat Factory and the customers with the fake merchandise are not pleased.
Procter & Gamble Sues Over Shampoo Bottle Infringement
By 1.8.08
Procter & Gamble has filed a lawsuit against a California company, claiming that it stole the design for their Herbal Essences shampoo bottle molds.
