More than 1,000 items of fake brand-name goods were confiscated yesterday during a raid of the Xiangyang Road Fashion and Gift Market by local market regulators.

The 1,464 pieces involve 16 famous foreign brands, such as Louis Vuitton, Boss, Chanel and Dunhill, according to the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau.

More than 80 officials were sent to the market to conduct the raid. Eighteen stores suspected of selling fake brands were targeted and all were found to be selling fake products, officials said.

Most of the fake goods were leather bags, wallets, purses and clothes. No fake brand-name watches were found during the raid.

The bureau has banned the sales of 40 famous brands in local small commodity markets since late October, at the request of the brand holders. All goods carrying those brands found on sale in the markets will be deemed fake.

However, some vendors still sell brands on the list. They generally keep the goods hidden and only pull them out to show interested customers. Some have shifted banned brands to stores concealed in residential areas outside the markets.

During yesterday's raid, more than 20 items of three banned brands were found on sale at Xiangyang market.

The rest of the seized products were counterfeit North Face clothes, which are not on the ban list.

'Anyone found selling fake brands will be punished based on the trademark law, no matter whether the brand is on our ban list or not,' said Xing Dongsheng, director with the bureau's trademark protection division, yesterday. 

2004/12/30
Source: Eastday.com