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Silk market merchants sue over 'fakes' issue

(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-07 07:56

Merchants suspended for allegedly selling pirated goods at Beijing's Silk Street Market on Friday sued the market manager and a law firm representing foreign luxury brands, demanding compensation totaling 161,000 yuan ($23,500).

In their petition to Chaoyang district court, seven vendors said Silk Market administrator and IntellecPro, which represents Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Chanel and Burberry, suspended their shops from Feb 1 to Saturday on accusations that they sold fake goods on Dec 24, Chinacourt.org reported.

The accusation was untrue, vendors said via their lawyer. The incident, after being publicized by media, "tainted our reputation and caused economic losses", they added.

"Their actions were illegal and their charges lack evidence," they said.

Fifty merchants also gathered outside the 11th-floor office of IntellecPro, saying it lacks enough evidence to charge them.

The crowd demanded to see evidence their shops had sold fake goods and held up signs reading: "You want to get rich, we want to fill our stomachs".

They said some photos, claimed to be evidence of selling fakes, are untruthful.

They also said it was some unregistered vendors that sold fake goods and tainted the market's image.

Six unregistered hawkers were caught selling fake Louis Vuitton and Gucci bags on Thursday. Registered merchants told the Beijing News that the market's poor reputation was due to their unregistered competitors.

IntellecPro said merchants had disturbed its operations.

"They just came and they forced into our office since maybe the day before yesterday, and they stayed the whole day long," said Zhao Tian-ying, IntellecPro's legal consultant.