August 21, 2005
Surge in Chinese fakes worries Korean firms
As more and more Chinese counterfeits of Korean products appear in stores, Korean manufacturers are worrying that the credibility of their brands may be in jeopardy, reports JoongAngDaily.
"A report provided to Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics last week asserted that two-thirds of electronics shops in four major Chinese cities ― Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen ― were selling fake Samsung and LG products.
The report, by Marksman Consultants, a Hong Kong-based multinational research institute that specializes in counterfeiting, said stores were selling fake cellular phones, earphones, hard disks and even cell phone batteries with Samsung or LG logos. In some cases, they were openly sold as fakes, but most were labeled as the genuine items, and sold at the same prices as the originals.
... Counterfeit items are not only being sold within China, but also in the Middle East, Latin America and elsewhere in Asia.
... Some Chinese companies are coming up with names and logos nearly identical to those of Korean brands. A Chinese company calling itself Samsumg is producing cellular phones dubbed Amycall, in an obvious attempt to trade on the brand credibility of Samsung's Anycall phones. In Shenzhen, a phone maker calling itself Sammeng has a Samsung-esque blue oval logo."
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