China, faced with loss of revenues from the sale of “unauthorized” Olympics merchandise in connection with its “Berlin for the 21st Century” games, has suddenly developed a taste for IP enforcement:
Beijing is battling to stamp out illegal sales of 2008 Olympic merchandise on dozens of unauthorized Web sites seeking to cash in on the Chinese public’s Games fervor, local media reported on Monday.
Authorities had investigated about 80 commercial and personal Web sites selling fake Olympic merchandise, or lacking licenses to sell the legitimate product, the Beijing Youth Daily said, citing an Olympic e-commerce official. . . .
Beijing Olympic organizers have targeted making $70 million from merchandising from the 2008 Games, from a range of about 4,000 products.
But despite authorities making a point of cracking down on Olympic-related forgery, local media reports of police busting fake Games souvenir makers and street peddlers are common.
Only $70 million?
The enforcement authorities, which is not capable of accomplishing a great deal in any case, must feel as if it is riding a tidal wave in a dinghy. btw, IP Dragon (http://ipdragon.blogspot.com/) writes fairly often on this issue.
Sincerely,
Rich Kuslan, Editor
Asia Business Intelligence
http://www.asiabizblog.com