Fakes still on sale after Beijing market crackdown

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing's Silk Alley Market, famous for knock-off designer gear from North Face jackets to Louis Vuitton bags, has cleared out stalls selling fakes, state media said on Friday, yet copies were on sale everywhere.

More than 150 stalls selling fake brand-name goods were cleared out in a month-long "house-cleaning", the China Daily said.

"The move is part of our commitment to doing business while protecting intellectual property rights," Wang Zili, general manager of the Beijing Silk Street Garment Market Co., was quoted as saying.

But there was no evidence of any house-cleaning on a busy Friday afternoon.

"If you want to buy the real stuff, go to a proper store," said a stallholder selling fake Harley Davidson leather jackets.

Another stallholder, Xia, 20, from Anhui province, was selling Marlboro and Polo fakes and said he had no legitimate merchandise.

"Why would we sell the real stuff?" he said. "No one wants to buy it."

The market, a magnet for both local expatriates and foreign tourists, said as early as January 2005 that it would stop the sale of counterfeit ware.

That announcement came a day ahead of a visit by then U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans for an intellectual property rights forum and amid Chinese pledges to get tough on copyright violations.

Even the China Daily admitted that fake goods were still on sale at the market, which has often been sued by foreign brands for IPR infringements.

"A quick check by the China Daily revealed that goods bearing brand names such as Coach, Gucci, Nike and Polo were still available to insistent shoppers," the newspaper said.

The European Union and United States have maintained pressure on China to combat counterfeits, which U.S. software and entertainment firms say costs them $2.5 billion a year.