BigShinyThing

Clearly imitation is no longer the sincerest form of flattery for luxury brands. The International Herald Tribune reports that both the landlord and vendors at the Beijing Xiushui Haosen Clothing Market have been ordered to pay $13,000 in compensation to six luxury goods companies after being found guilty of selling pirated goods, or preventing the sale of them.

According to the US Commerce Department, international companies lose more than $60 billion a year because of piracy in China. The case is believed to be China’s first copyright verdict successfully upheld against a shopping mall landlord and is only part of a huge crackdown into counterfeiting that began last July. China prosecuted 158 people for counterfeiting and imposed 376 million yuan in fines in the 15 months sending September 30th, 2005, according to the State Adminstration for Industry and Commerce. The agency has also investigated 6.77 million business entities and 283,000 markets nationwide resulting in the closure of 6,273 places that made and sold fake goods.

Bizarrely, Vogue is now reporting that Chanel is being sued by one of its own suppliers for counterfeiting. The fashion house faces charges of counterfeiting and “abusive termination of [ongoing] contractual relations” by World Tricot, which is seeking £1.3 million for breach of contract and £2.3 million for counterfeiting. Chanel is, of course, countersuing, claiming that the action is a publicity-seeking stunt. Vogue reports on the vagaries of proving style theft:

After nearly four hours of testimony during which the commercial court’s presiding judge, Jean-Pierre Lucquin, struggled to compare unusual evidence comprising a sample of white crochet and a crochet Chanel vest, he proposed that the complex case be tried in front of a mediator. Both companies must now agree to the mediation before January 20 or the case will have to be tried again.

See previous post, ‘The end of the line for cheap chic?’

1. As iPod sales start to slow down, we’re betting on a fierce brand-extension war between Apple and the other online music brands. Competitors have already started to emerge — see MTV’s tie up with Microsoft, Urge.
2. In the same sector, we tip Napster to learn from Google and Yahoo’s mapping successes, and to offer a programming interface (API) for subscribers, so people can build their own software systems using Napster content — expect customised jukeboxes, recommendation systems and music-based games to flourish online. The benefit to Napster? Kudos to the brand which accrue from others’ innovations, a wider audience, and increased advertising opportunities.
3. We’re waiting for a Friday night TV show which features real-time ’stupid shit’, news and interviews contributed live via 3G mobiles by amateur viewer/reporters out and about around the UK and worldwide — the trash culture flipside of OhMyNews. Expect flash celebrity for a few contributors to follow, and a big spike in phone sales.
4. Still on TV, we expect at least one channel to broadcast experimental blocks of ‘ad-free’ prime time programming to test the waters of post-interruptive-advertising television — probably initially sponsored by a major car brand.
5. Flyposting will be banned in London as Ken sides with the Government on a ‘respect‘ agenda.
6. Sophisticated services offered via Skype will be the surprise eCommerce success story of the year, with third-party developers exploiting the ubiquitous telephony provider’s APIs to provide simple, effective voice access to information, retail and search services in exactly the way that screen-based systems thus far haven’t, for the mobile multitudes.
7. Namecheck BST when territorial disputes over mining rights in polar regions recently exposed by global warning become a major news story, and a source of growing international tension.
8. And a big ‘we told you so’ if Interpol reveals that an unlikely counterfeiting alliance of criminals and ‘just because we could’ hackers has adopted open source development methodologies to make undetectable fakes of a major currency, which subsequently has to be completely withdrawn from circulation, redesigned and reissued.
9. Long odds but not impossible: Sony’s launch of non-Sony-branded hardware or media, in an attempt at a fresh start after the horrors of 2005.
10. We will be saddened but not surprised if a PC virus takes out one of the emergency services for at least a day.
11. 3G. Finally. Yes we’re surprised too.