Artifact: The Counterfeit Olympics

Kerry Howley from the February 2008 issue

China’s role as the world’s knock-off sanctuary has long been a scourge of brand managers, who complain that the Chinese government doesn’t do enough to police the use of names like Rolex and Burberry. But the Beijing authorities have taken an interest in the legal integrity of at least one label: the Olympics 2008 logo, which they own.

It’s not an easy task. For the past several years, the government has seized unauthorized T-shirts, cigarettes, key chains, and other items stamped with the Olympic emblem and sold by street or online vendors. Police have also seized at least 30,000 Fuwa, the official Olympic mascots. The plush toys pictured below are black-market Fuwa, outlaws each of them.

Anticipating the rise of unlicensed Olympic merchandise, the government passed a law in 2002 clarifying its ownership of all things Olympic. Exactly 24 stores are authorized to sell the goods, and Beijing-approved products are tagged with holograms, watermarks, and words visible only under specific lighting. But unsanctioned entrepreneurs remain, and some think bigger than others. In April, the police busted a website that was hawking not fake merchandise but fake tickets, granting admission to a phantom Games of the counterfeiters’ own invention.

Comments

|1.25.08 @ 10:54AM|#

What goes around, comes around.
Trite, but in this case, true.

Abdul|1.25.08 @ 11:04AM|#

Maybe the chinese goverment could develop some sort of dictatorial, police state tactics to suppress. . . oh, wait, they already did.

InvestigateThis|1.25.08 @ 11:07AM|#

New Hampshire Primary - Breakdown of chain of custody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKQEQ7qHvgM

|1.25.08 @ 11:12AM|#

Burberry should produce a special edition Fuwa, and tell the Chinese Gov't where to go when they come looking for royalties.

ed|1.25.08 @ 11:16AM|#

A nice touch would be lead-based ink on the fake tickets.

|1.25.08 @ 11:19AM|#

David, I like your thinking. Genuine Rolex Fuwa Watches? Fuwa as a Pokemon character? The possibilities of payback are vast.

|1.25.08 @ 11:25AM|#

Kawaii 2: Revenge of the Cute

|1.25.08 @ 11:31AM|#

David, I like your thinking. Genuine Rolex Fuwa Watches? Fuwa as a Pokemon character? The possibilities of payback are vast.

The only problem is that the knockoffs would cost hundreds of times what the originals do, which would lead to a market in cheap Chinese knockoffs of the knockoffs.

|1.25.08 @ 11:44AM|#

Burberry could outsource the manufacturing to China.

John|1.25.08 @ 11:44AM|#

Just like Kerry, the mascots are so cute they sneeze marshmallows.

Episiarch|1.25.08 @ 11:49AM|#

Just wait until the knockoff gold medals hit the streets. Everyone will be a winner.

|1.25.08 @ 12:00PM|#

There's a difference between adorable and cute. This, for example, is cute. This is adorable.

|1.25.08 @ 12:07PM|#

Lamar,

I see someone else here is a Cute Overload fan!

|1.25.08 @ 12:13PM|#

Every day. You can't miss with a little dog baring teeth at a giant bone.

NP|1.25.08 @ 12:38PM|#

Episiarch,

Not a word on how much Federer's chance of winning a gold medal has diminished today? (Scroll down for the stunning tennis update and war of words.) I'm disappointed, my friend.

Episiarch|1.25.08 @ 1:14PM|#

What does the Australian Open have to do with gold medals? He has the same chance he had before: a damn good one.

NP|1.25.08 @ 1:37PM|#

Episiarch,

I was saying that 'cause Federer now has Djokovich to worry about in addition to Nadal, Nalbandian and other guys. But yeah, he really should've won the Athens; Nadal wasn't even a serious contender back then and he loses to... oh yeah, an unseeded dude named Tomas Berdych.

|1.25.08 @ 4:03PM|#

Your tennis talk ruined my cute vs. adorable debate.

NP|1.25.08 @ 11:08PM|#

Lamar,

Sorry man, but I was still trying to recover from my shock at Federer's loss in straight sets. Cute/adorable pictures, btw.