Apple's Anti-Counterfeiting Efforts in Asia Hampered by Uncooperative Authorities

[AppleScruff1]

I would think that the government there would be more worried about Apple pulling out it's manufacturing then protecting little knock off companies.

Not much chance of that happening no matter what they do.

 

[pmz]

Knock offs are probably 20% of the entire Chinese economy.

 

[divinox]

"provide the chinese market with a product they can afford. Until you do, theyll just laugh in your face. ..and rightly so, i am inclined to say."

another silly response to theft, although maybe not silly to someone who has never created and developed and produced a product and then had it stolen. if it's too expensive, steal the damn thing...hello Katrina and LA riot looters...

Silly? Because you say so? Do you know that i find silly? That the vast majority of people in the western world voluntarily uphold a system that allows the current wealth-distribution to get even more skewed, despite the fact that its infested with wrong-doings far worse than the "theft" of something as novel as "intellectual property" regarding "trademarks and design".

Now tell me: why (oh why) should the CHINESE government care more about rich, oft-times ignorant, americans than its own people? Because you say so?

p.s. i create so called intellectual property on a daily basis, its my livelihood.

Addendum:

Also, i find it quite amusing that you bothered to make a comment to me, but completely ignored posts calling for Apple to partake in corruption of government. Nice!

Hmm, scratch that.

s/amusing/symptomatic.

 

[Little Endian]

It's going to be very hard for Americans to stop anything in China. First off they don't respect the U.S. They also see how much money can be made with these products like anything else that's in demand. Apple, as well as Gap and Nike just to name a few have had this problem in China. This is a price you pay when you short change Americans by shipping our jobs over seas. In the long run are you really saving.

Could not agree more!! China is also not concerned about the risk of Apple pulling out of China for manufacturing. There are not many other options beyond China that Apple could turn to. China still has labor cost and industrial capacity on it's side.

What other options are there?Hmm... can Apple turn to India?...not yet, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico, Philipines etc... dream on, or maybe Russia...yeah sure that would make Chinese piracy seem like a walk in the park.

God forbid the thought of Apple going back into manufacturing!! that is just so 20th century. In the long run the rich world will loose the IP rights battle if they loose their ability to manufacture their own goods. Sadly in many sectors this has already happened.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Anyone remember Casablanca?

Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?

Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! [a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]

Croupier: Your winnings, sir.

Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.

 

[charlituna]

The article makes it seem these "counterfeit" Apple stores are selling KIRF, but it was reported they are selling genuine Apple products, they just aren't Apple authorised retailers.

Yes it does. Thing is that no article ever said that everything they sell is real. The main products might be but the cables etc could be fake.

That said, to those saying there's nothing Apple can do. Sure there is. They can drop the 411 that they are moving to shift their factory activity out of China. Let the government find out that Apple is in talks with Foxconn to use the South American factories and only those factories and see how fast China realizes there are jobs to lose.

 

[nylonsteel]

re original article
china playing games again
china wants the best of modern life yet still under communist rule

 

[derboy]

Welcome to China!

What is required is a precision machined unibody aluminium briefcase with big envelopes of money inside. Then the problem might go away.

 

[VitaminD]

One word: kickbacks.

 

[charlituna]

Here is a thought, why not bring the jobs to some of the right to work states here, that way you can keep the unions out and create some jobs here.

Because its not that simple.

They have to get the land, build the factories, train the workers. that's not an overnight gig. So in the meantime they still have the issues.

Also Right to Work doesn't eliminate unions. All it means is that the unions can't force you to sign up to work there. But if you are already union, union rules do apply and are enforced.

 

[j2-core]

Let them have their fake Apple Stores

Apple has recently "requested" that their Foxconn factory replace all of the line workers with robots. I assume that they are doing this to stop the suicides, but that is one million people that Apple is putting out of a job. I would imagine that the Chinese government is not too happy about that.

I wish Apple wasn't so cheap. They should pay their taxes and move the company back to the US then build their robot automated factory in the states. But you can't tick off the stock holders. Sad.

 

[djsound]

Of course China will not do anything. Illegal or not it makes more money for them...then eventually they take over the world..

 

[OXO]

Please macrumors

Why can't you be more interesting on 90% of these stories. All I see are endless copying of stories from other websites.

Here's an idea - go find some of these copy products and show us how good/bad they are.

 

[Boosf]

Piracy in China

It makes one wonder why we are so anxious to do business with a country that doesn't enforce IP rights.

 

[djsound]

Even if we don't do business with them they will still make replicas...Probably even more!!...we cant win (or even play by the rules) with China...we are out numbered

 

[TimeArrow]

Afaik, the authority shut down MANY fake apple stores immediately, BEFORE apple's effort. I think people should open their eyes big before reading CNN news about China., including other aspects.

 

[daveathall]

It makes one wonder why we are so anxious to do business with a country that doesn't enforce IP rights.

They may call in their debts if you don't do business with them.

 

[brdeveloper]

Silly? Because you say so? Do you know that i find silly? That the vast majority of people in the western world voluntarily uphold a system that allows the current wealth-distribution to get even more skewed, despite the fact that its infested with wrong-doings far worse than the "theft" of something as novel as "intellectual property" regarding "trademarks and design".

Now tell me: why (oh why) should the CHINESE government care more about rich, oft-times ignorant, americans than its own people? Because you say so? "N*-*a please".

p.s. i create so called intellectual property on a daily basis, its my livelihood.

Addendum:

Also, i find it quite amusing that you bothered to make a comment to me, but completely ignored posts calling for Apple to partake in corruption of government. Nice!

Hmm, scratch that.

s/amusing/symptomatic.

Best post on this topic. It's funny to see people saying Apple would direct their efforts in corrupting chinese authorities for the sake of Intelectual Property (an ocidental-culture concern only, btw). When exploring third-party labour in sub-human conditions, everything's ok. When that people are trying to increase their income by getting crumbs from big corporations, we should begin a war against them and infiltrate into their institutions by corruption.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

I'm surprised Apple doesn't shut down all the counterfeit sales of their products on eBay. It's bad enough that I filter my searches for "US Only" only to have the US companies selling the same items for higher prices.

 

[divinox]

Yes it does. Thing is that no article ever said that everything they sell is real. The main products might be but the cables etc could be fake.

That said, to those saying there's nothing Apple can do. Sure there is. They can drop the 411 that they are moving to shift their factory activity out of China. Let the government find out that Apple is in talks with Foxconn to use the South American factories and only those factories and see how fast China realizes there are jobs to lose.

If it made sense, they would. It doesnt, so theyre not going anywhere.

 

[lilo777]

Here is a thought, why not bring the jobs to some of the right to work states here, that way you can keep the unions out and create some jobs here.

Better yet, bring the jobs to some of the right to live states here. This way Apple would not have $70bn in cash but the workers would be paid well, have money to buy Apple products (and then some) and maybe economy would start growing again.

 

[divinox]

Best post on this topic. It's funny to see people saying Apple would direct their efforts in corrupting chinese authorities for the sake of Intelectual Property (an ocidental-culture concern only, btw). When exploring third-party labour in sub-human conditions, everything's ok. When that people are trying to increase their income by getting crumbs from big corporations, we should begin a war against them and infiltrate into their institutions by corruption.

To paraphrase Scar: [We are] surrounded by idiots.

 

[swarmster]

Well then let's just build a bunch of factories in the US and build everything here.

Exactly. Isn't that what Apple usually does when one of its partners doesn't cooperate? It goes elsewhere.

 

[divinox]

Apple has recently "requested" that their Foxconn factory replace all of the line workers with robots. I assume that they are doing this to stop the suicides, but that is one million people that Apple is putting out of a job. I would imagine that the Chinese government is not too happy about that.

I wish Apple wasn't so cheap. They should pay their taxes and move the company back to the US then build their robot automated factory in the states. But you can't tick off the stock holders. Sad.

Are you for real? Apple is not doing this to end peoples suffering* (if so, they wouldve cared more for the people that created their fortune). Only reason for Apple to care about robots vs. man is price.

* Also, Apple - the richest company in the world - has donated how much to the millions of starving children on africas horn? Zilch, zip, nada? Yeah, i bet they really care about some chinese workers. I surely do.

 

[brdeveloper]

Yes it does. Thing is that no article ever said that everything they sell is real. The main products might be but the cables etc could be fake.

That said, to those saying there's nothing Apple can do. Sure there is. They can drop the 411 that they are moving to shift their factory activity out of China. Let the government find out that Apple is in talks with Foxconn to use the South American factories and only those factories and see how fast China realizes there are jobs to lose.

South America is a China-backup. Production costs will always be higher here. Maybe in Bolivia Foxconn could reach China-profits but Evo Morales is too unstable, so there are always drawbacks in reducing production costs, there isn't a silver bullet. Also, China can block Apple products (increasing import taxes) and Apple would not like to be out from a billion-people market.