“Chinese officials in Kunming have ordered two fake Apple shops to close, not because of piracy or copyright concerns, but because the stores in the southwestern city did not have an official business permit,” Melanie Lee reports for Reuters.
“Five self-branded ‘Apple Stores’ were found to be selling Apple products without authorisation from the California-based company but only two were told to shut, officials said,” Lee reports. “An investigation into the stores was apparently sparked by a storm of media attention over an elaborate hoax Apple shop discovered by an American blogger. The order did not apply to that store, which is applying for a reseller licence with Apple, a local government spokesman said.”
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Lee reports, “Chang Puyun, spokesman of Kunming government’s business bureau [said] ‘China has taken great steps to enforce intellectual property rights and the stores weren’t selling fake products.’ Officials are investigating whether Apple had applied with the Chinese government to have its store design and layout protected by law, Chang added. In addition to protecting trademarks, Chinese law prohibits companies from copying the “look and feel” of other companies’ stores, but enforcement is often spotty. The United States and other Western countries have often complained China is woefully behind in its effort to stamp out intellectual property (IP) theft.”
Lee reports, “All the five unauthorized Apple shops in Kunming were selling genuine Apple products bought from other authorised resellers in China, Huang Yinghui, an official at the city’s business bureau, told Reuters. Apple has just four genuine Apple Stores in China, in Beijing and Shanghai, and none in Kunming in Yunnan province. The company, which has 13 authorised resellers in Kunming, could not be reached for comment.”
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MacDailyNews Take: Does the U.S.A. have any laws barring copying the look of another company’s stores? We only ask because:
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