Bejing visitors feast on fakes despite crackdown

BEIJING (Reuters) - Visitors to Beijing hoping to buy cheap pirate copies of hit movies or fake designer clothing have been relieved to discover that government efforts to crack down on counterfeit goods have come up short.

With the Olympics just a day away, athletes, officials and fans were using the time to snap up bargains of dubious quality, crowding into the Silk Street Market, a six-floor mall in the east of Beijing that is the city's largest bazaar for fakes.

They didn't have to venture that far.

Watch vendors, selling Rolex timepieces of questionable time-keeping ability, were just outside the gates of the Forbidden City, the old imperial heart of the capital.

And DVD sellers strolled through the streets outside nearby hotels, offering an up-to-date selection, including Batman sequel "The Dark Knight", which is still in the theatres.

China had announced a "hundred day operation against pirate copies", keen to present a squeaky clean image to the world during the Olympics.

"It's just a bit of fun. That's what we came here for, because there's no such thing as copyright," said Michael Hannelly, chief statistician for Softball Australia, who was shopping with his wife in the Silk Street Market.

"We'd been told by someone on the plane over that this place had been closed and we were really disappointed," he said.

WARY VENDORS

The campaign to clear fakes off the streets of Beijing has made life more difficult for vendors, but many have judged that the prospect of profiting from visiting crowds outweighs the risk of trouble with the law.

"I've got to make a living. I'm careful. A few sellers have been caught and held in the police station for two or three or days," said Zhang, a DVD salesman.

Positioned next to the Friendship Store, a souvenir shop, Zhang looked nervously up and down the street for any approaching police.

"For sure, they know me. I work here every day. I may stop for the three weeks of the Olympics," he said.

Stores that once had shelves stocked with illegal DVD copies now offer only legitimate -- and higher priced -- discs up front. One store, near the Yashou Market, led customers to a room in the back with an extensive pirate catalogue when they asked for a wider selection.

Western companies and politicians have complained for years that China has not fought hard enough against a huge black market of counterfeit DVDs, music discs, software, sporting goods and clothing. Washington has pressed a case at the World Trade Organisation.

A series of luxury goods makers, including Burberry and Prada, won a high-profile lawsuit in China two years ago against the Silk Street Market. Its owners have since worked to rehabilitate the mall's reputation, policing vendors to keep knock-offs from their shelves.

But the rules are mired in contradictions.

"They check every morning to make sure the quality and the brands are good. It's no problem selling Ralph Lauren and Paul Smith but we can't sell Tommy Hilfiger, Burberry and others," said Wu, a woman at a clothing booth on the ground floor.

(Editing by Keith Weir)