“Customers at an Apple Store in the Chinese city of Kunming berated staff and demanded refunds on Friday after the shop was revealed to be an elaborate fake, sparking a media and Internet frenzy,” Melanie Lee reports for Reuters.
“Long a target of counterfeiters and unauthorized resellers, Apple Inc was alerted to the near flawless fake shop by an American blogger living in the southwestern city, more than 1,000 miles from the nearest genuine Apple stores in Beijing and Shanghai,” Lee reports. “Staff were also angry at the unwanted attention after more than 1,000 media outlets picked up the story and pictures of the store from the BirdAbroad blog. ‘The media is painting us to be a fake store but we don’t sell fakes, all our products are real, you can check it yourself,’ said one employee, who didn’t want to give his name. ‘There is no Chinese law that says I can’t decorate my shop the way I want to decorate it.'”
MacDailyNews Take: In general, it seems that the concept of intellectual property is completely foreign in China and, in fact, much of Asia. Look at Samsung. We can easily imagine Samsung saying: “There’s no law that says we can’t decorate our phones and tablets the way we want.” Trade dress infringement is trade dress infringement. We’re not sure that these leeches even understand why it’s wrong, regardless of whatever local laws are on the books.
Lee reports, “The fake Apple Store is situated along a crowded pedestrian-only shopping street, its black Apple logo gleaming. Inside, with its Apple posters on the walls and iPads and Macbook computers displayed on wooden tables, the store looks every bit like Apple Stores found all over the world but for some slightly shoddy workmanship and one or two errant details.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related article:
Multiple fake ‘Apple Stores’ in China even fake out employees – July 20, 2011
No fake Microsoft stores?
Whilst the fake Apple stores are managed by SamDung in China, the fake Microsoft stores are managed by Hu Flung Dung.
And the android shops by We fukem Jung!
Hah! Great line. (Or Wii Fukem Yung.)
YEAH! CHINEEZ NAMES R FUNNY!!!!11 HYUK HYUK! THEY ALSO GO PEE-PEE IN UR COKE!
For the love of Steve, are MDN readers really this juvenile and racist?
——RM
Some truth there. And, I imagine that the Chinese have never ever EVER made fun of the fat white clowns from the West. For all I know, my name sounds remarkably close to “Your yak has a nice set of knockers” in Mandarin.
Yes, m’Lord, some are.
Re: Ballmer’s Left (Ah Hem):
You killed me with your comment!
Thanks!
…no story here, move on …
Answer: people only copy when there’s money to be made.
Build a better mousetrap and they will come. 🙂
No “MS stoer”? Even the Chinese shady operators have better standards.
Ballmer has to change his signs now, the dipshit.
I thought the Microsoft Stores ARE fake Apple Stores…
All Microsoft stores are fake. There’re Apple ripoffs !
I also understand this Apple Stoer also sells genius bra.
And they sell iPads at Victory’s Secret next door.
I’ve been laughing hysterically for the last 10 minutes after the litany of posts in this topic.
I haven’t laughed this hard in weeks!
Thanks so much!!!!
Sorry to hear that. These replies really aren’t that funny.
Been an undertaker long? I’m with John.
Remember, there are a lot of folks who like Leno. Nuff said.
This is actually quite funny when you think about it. The Chinese can be so brazen about these things that it crosses the line into comedy.
Apple will quite rightly smack the store owners down though. Maybe after forcing a rebrand they’ll open an actual Apple Store two doors down as well, just to teach them a lesson.
It nothing new Microsoft has copied the Apple store but the left out the logo and the decent products.
+1
“Welcome to the bungle
We got fun ‘n’ games
We got everything you want
Honey we know the names
We are the people that can find
Whatever you may need
If you got the money honey
We got your disease”
-Steve Ballmer
Now I have this image of sweaty Ballmer up on stage with long stringy hair, a headband, and too tight leather pants sticking out his fat tongue. Had to share. I may have PTSD now.
Hey, didn’t Buns ‘n’ Noses do that song?
If the IP laws can’t command respect, and (or due to) ITC can’t be trusted to make the swift and correct calls, it might be time for the prudent and conscionable consumers to set things right by voting with their wallets. I suspect, at the end, that’s where it will matter the most.
Boycott Samsung; send that as a clear message to the other grifters.
In a related story, Hollywood continues to create counterfeit Chinese from Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese extras.
They are ‘extra’ actors. Generally the actor is not portraying themselves. For further clarification see Sean Connery, who is neither English and a secret agent, nor Russian and commander of a submarine, nor is he Han Solo’s father.
Plus it’s hard to use Chinese extras in Hollywood films. They keep stealing pre-release prints for counterfeiting, a serious distraction when trying to hit their marks in a scene.
Hey Dmac, check out this: did you know that the actor best known for his role as Charlie Chan was SWEDISH? No lie, look it up. His mother was of Slavic descent, thus the convincing look. And you guys think there’s nothing to be learned from these ridiculous posts…
I bet Steve & Tim have some Party connections. Threaten to move assembly to Brazil, and these posers will disappear in a week.
Well, that may not help either. Brazil has list of copied products, too. It’s very common in poorer countries where the people can’t afford the real thing.
I don’t know which part of the business is counterfeit here. they sell genuine Apple products and all legitimate, what’s the problem?
They are probably not authorized Apple vendors. How did they come by these products?
Grey market.
Don’t forget the fake store in akihabara… http://www.marsmag.com/?p=1177
That’s not a fake. That’s just a unique store design.
Guys,
copying your master is in most asian cultures a form of flattery. If you can’t make it better than the master, copying shows respect to that very person.
This concept is very foreign to us westerners. That’s why so many asians “don’t get it” when they are told it is wrong to copy others ideas/patents/etc.
So long,
R
However, even in Asia there is distinction about depending on whether master’s work is copied by apprentice or just random unrelated someone.
Also, in case of Samsung, the company should not claim that they innovated/invented original designs in cases, where they did not. So they try to combine copy approach with western rules.
Fascinating. It is also fascinating how the Chinese have “gotten it” when it comes to using modern technology to earn vast shitloads of money from the West. It is also amusing and/or sad to see such a rampant problem as intellectual property theft explained away with, “So sorry, cultural thing.”
It must be a cultural difference as you say. In the US there were independent Apple stores decades before there were “Apple Stores.” In fact, they survive today as crusty, “thinking different” sorts of places. They would not survive (I think) passing themselves off as a “Jobsian” 21st century store. Would it ever even occur to these stores to copy the master in every single detail?
Is this store selling fake copies of Apple computers, iPads and so on? Or are the products genuine Apple gear and just the store itself is fake?
If the latter is true, how did a fake store get real Apple products to sell? Someone at Foxconn handing out samples at the back door? 😉
Look, when there are well over a billion people who look exactly like you how COULD you develop, historically, the social concept that copying IS theft?
Whether that is intended to be funny or serious, it is decidedly ignorant and racist.
No matter what, they is only one real apple.
Oops, I meant ‘there is only one real apple’
Hah! Was gonna ask, “Bro, you from Detroit?”
I’m still not getting the whole story.
Do I understand correct that this is a store that is authorized to, and does, sell ACTUAL Apple products?
If they are not selling counterfeit products, then it’s not as bad as the media makes it out. (still pretty bad though).
Wish I could find a clear answer on this.
It’s not an excuse or apologetic. It’s an explanation why this is happening with no feeling of wrongdoing.
I condemn this behavior. It is wrong and they should be sued. However enforcing copyright laws in China will be a very long battle…
Well at least they are, allegedly, selling real Apple products with, allegedly, real Chinese warrantees. A step up from the fake knock-off products that Asian stores are famous for selling.
As for the legality of the misleading store? I think Apple lawyers can handle this one.
I am a bit afraid for little miss BirdAbroad now- the Chinese are not thrilled with those who upset the Apple cart – or the status quo. She should perhaps consider moving, since her face is plastered all over her blog. A lot of folks seem to be pissed over there right now.
On the whole, good news for Apple and Apple investors. As long as they are selling real Apple products (likely gray market from Hong Kong), more power to them. The appearance of these store is a tribute to the growing popularity of Apple products in China. I’m sure when Apple builds a “real” store sometime later this year or the next it will draw the customers to them. In the meantime, people wanting buy Apple products and enjoy an Apple-storeesque experience can hang out there.
They should be angry. If they aren’t really apart of Apple they have no right to decorate, and put up a sign that says Apple Store, no matter how they spell it. The Apple logo is legally copyrighted and you need permission from Apple to post it. Especially if you think you are going to sell its products too. And the fact that they are not giving refunds just shows you they aren’t apart of the Apple retail family. Apple should legally go after them and shut them down!
Microsoft probably needs to hire this guy to design those additional Microsoft Stores.
Kunming, btw, is The City of Eternal Spring. No joke.
There are no Laws in China, especially when it comes to stealing from the West.. Don’t forget, this country is TRYING to catch up… its in the country’s best interest to learn from the best companies in the world, so they’re not going to slam businesses like this.
Why doesn’t China care about IP? Because in Modern China, there is little in the way of original thought. The only way for this policy to hurt them is if they were the ones being ripped off 😉