Counterfeit damages the same Chinese

Guangzhou has become the China's major wholesale market for counterfeit eyewear, the president of the Guangzhou Optical Manufacturing Association said to The Standard journal.

Luo Ke has called for the municipal quality supervision bureau and industrial and commercial management department to step up efforts to fight intellectual property violations and tackle pirates. Although a series of crackdowns on counterfeit eyewear wholesale markets had been launched throughout the country in recent years, the wholesalers of pirated optical frames now gathered in Guangzhou to do business because of its proximity to other Southeast Asian countries and the city's failure to combat piracy, he said.

At Renmin Road in Guangzhou, the largest market for eyewear and glass parts in South China, about 50 per cent of shops selling spectacle frames and sunglasses sold counterfeit products, Luo said. 'There one can buy a pair of Gucci or Versace glasses for ridiculous prices. Moreover, some Christian Dior spectacle frames can be found which Dior has not produced. And even though Louis Vuitton does not produce spectacle frames, the frames can also be found there', he said.

Luo attributed the flood of fakes on Renmin Road to the city's incompetent efforts to tackle pirates. He said the fake spectacle frames and sunglasses had jeopardised the city's reputation as the major glasses market in South China and discourages famous international eyewear makers from partnering with counterparts in the city.

He also warned that the cheap glasses sold by pirates could damage users' eyes, following tests last year on samples, which unveiled that 80 per cent of them were substandard.