Luxury Italian brand Gucci has sent letters warning stores in Hong Kong not to sell paper versions of its products which are used as offerings to the dead in Chinese funerals.
Paper items such as houses and money have traditionally been burnt next to the tombs of ancestors to symbolise that they will be enjoyed by loved ones in the afterlife.
But as a new class of rich emerge in China, the burning of paper mansions, high speed cars, iPhones and luxury shoes and handbags has become popular.
In a move which Gucci said is motivated by concerns over “trademark infringement” issues, the company has written to at least two stores in Hong Kong to request them not to sell paper replicas of their products.
One store owner said she was “shocked” when she received the letter, according to a report by the Chinese-language Apple Daily newspaper.
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“I have never bought a luxury bag before and I didn’t know it (Gucci) was a well-known brand.”
ACT BLURR LIKE SINKIE CHINK!
Another store owner in the Sheung Wan district of the city said: “These products are offerings for the dead, not the living, so how can we be violating copyright?”
TALK COCK! YOU ARE BURNING THE FAKE GOODS ON EARTH!
The newspaper quoted a local lawyer saying that even if the Gucci brand was used in a totally different business area to clothes and fashion, it could still constitute a trademark infringement.
HE IS ONE UNCHINKIFIED CHINK PROVIDED HE DOESN"T SNEEZE LIKE THUNDER OR CLEAR THROAT LOUDLY IN PUBLIC PLACES
Gucci said there was “no suggestion of legal action or compensation” in the letter.
"We fully respect the funeral context and we trust that the store owners did not have the intention to infringe Gucci's trademark,” it said in a statement emailed to The Telegraph.
"Thus a letter was sent on an informational basis to let these stores know about the products they were carrying, and by asking them to stop selling those items."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...er-fake-paper-goods-used-in-chinese-funerals/