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China Orders Two of Five Fake Apple Stores to Close

8 points by tilt 15y ago

wccrawford 15y ago
I could wish for more details on why the other 2 were closed, and exactly how Yu's 3 stores looked and branded themselves. From what little is in the article, Yu seems to copy Apple slavishly and it seems his stores would be a good addition to Apple's official network. He obviously cares enough to get it right.
- wisty 15y ago
  The other 2 didn't have business licenses. As in, they weren't registered to pay tax, employ workers, and licensed to carry out business. That's frowned upon. Their fake "Apple" branding has nothing to do with the story, except as link bait. Yu's 3 are registered properly with the government, but not with Apple. The Apple-registered stores don't like this (as Yu might be cutting costs, avoiding Apple taxes, and so on), but he's not flagrantly breaking any laws (except maybe a trademark violation, which the local authorities are less vigorous at pursuing). Apple might be able to press charges themselves, but it looks like the local government isn't going to do it for them. Maybe Yu would argue it is simply fair use (given he is selling Apple goods), or that Apple's restrictive business requirements violate some Chinese antitrust laws (if there are any such laws). Or he might just stall, and hope he's too small a target for Apple to bother suing.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- rexf 15y ago
  It appears that Yu's goods are genuine, whereas the other 2 were fake store with fake product. "Yu’s stores buy iPhones, iPads and iPods from authorized dealers and sell them at the same prices listed on Apple’s website, said He, the manager at the Wu Cheng Road shop. Margins are low, he said."
gchucky 15y ago
Apparently this problem of fake stores isn't limited to just China; others were reported in "...Burma, Croatia, Columbia, Slovenia, Spain and Venezuela."[1] [1] - http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jul/25/fake-apple-stores-not-limited-to-china http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jul/25/fake-apple-...
rickdale 15y ago
They may claim to purchase real iphones, ipads and macs, but anybody with any biz-know-how about China will tell you that knockoffs can be better than the real deal. I would bet that fake stores are selling counterfeit devices, regardless of their claims.

8 points by tilt 15y ago

I could wish for more details on why the other 2 were closed, and exactly how Yu's 3 stores looked and branded themselves. From what little is in the article, Yu seems to copy Apple slavishly and it seems his stores would be a good addition to Apple's official network. He obviously cares enough to get it right.

wisty 15y ago
The other 2 didn't have business licenses. As in, they weren't registered to pay tax, employ workers, and licensed to carry out business. That's frowned upon. Their fake "Apple" branding has nothing to do with the story, except as link bait. Yu's 3 are registered properly with the government, but not with Apple. The Apple-registered stores don't like this (as Yu might be cutting costs, avoiding Apple taxes, and so on), but he's not flagrantly breaking any laws (except maybe a trademark violation, which the local authorities are less vigorous at pursuing). Apple might be able to press charges themselves, but it looks like the local government isn't going to do it for them. Maybe Yu would argue it is simply fair use (given he is selling Apple goods), or that Apple's restrictive business requirements violate some Chinese antitrust laws (if there are any such laws). Or he might just stall, and hope he's too small a target for Apple to bother suing.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
rexf 15y ago
It appears that Yu's goods are genuine, whereas the other 2 were fake store with fake product. "Yu’s stores buy iPhones, iPads and iPods from authorized dealers and sell them at the same prices listed on Apple’s website, said He, the manager at the Wu Cheng Road shop. Margins are low, he said."

gchucky 15y ago

Apparently this problem of fake stores isn't limited to just China; others were reported in "...Burma, Croatia, Columbia, Slovenia, Spain and Venezuela."[1] [1] - http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jul/25/fake-apple-stores-not-limited-to-china http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jul/25/fake-apple-...

rickdale 15y ago

They may claim to purchase real iphones, ipads and macs, but anybody with any biz-know-how about China will tell you that knockoffs can be better than the real deal. I would bet that fake stores are selling counterfeit devices, regardless of their claims.