Italian exposes fake brands in China

As soon as I sat down to start my interview with Giovanni de Sanctis, an official from the Italian Trade Commission, he poured me a glass from a bottle of "French wine" and invited me to have a taste.

"How's the wine?" he asked eagerly when I took a sip. I told him that I thought it tasted different from normal wine.

He smiled and picked up the so-called French wine, which he said was a gift a friend had bought for him from a Beijing supermarket.

"The wine wasn't made with grapes at all. It's just water and ink," de Sanctis said. "It's fake and shouldn't be called wine at all."

He pointed at the English label on the bottle, laughing at the wrong words and grammatical errors, and he added that it was interesting to see a wine selling in China without any Chinese characters on the label.

"It's common to see original Chinese products packaged as 'foreign brands', but those so-called famous foreign brands, in fact, don't even exist," he said.

De Sanctis, who is responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of Italian companies and individuals investing in Beijing, has found many fake Italian brands, which are popular in China but do not exist in Italy. He has been doing this since he came to the capital two years ago.

"I was so surprised when I found the phenomenon while shopping in Beijing at the beginning. I've never seen those brands in my hometown (in Italy)," he said.

The 55-year-old Italian, working at a high office building in Beijing's Chaoyang district, said he often overlooked the busy commercial areas from the window, thinking how these fake brands flow into the market and why Chinese customers never doubt their authenticity.

"Some Chinese companies or businessmen use Italian trademarks or introductions to cheat customers, saying their brands have a long history and are based in an Italian town, but this is actually a business trick," he said.

He said such tricks also damage the reputation of real Italian companies and brands.

For example, Gafera, one of the so-called Italian brands in China, was actually a small company producing air fresheners for cars in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

The company gave customers a brochure saying their scents were from Italian natural oils, but in fact this brand was never registered in Italy, de Sanctis said.

He mentioned these cases to officials from the State Intellectual Property Office of China in June while showing them some fake Italian companies and brands that the commission had found.

"I first collected those fake brands or companies from my friends, colleagues, markets and department stores. Then I selected some typical ones and checked their information through the Internet."

The administrators of the office were also surprised and asked him to help them to find fake Italian brands across the country, de Sanctis said.

Gui Hua, the commission's lawyer in China, said fake brands they have found, such as bags, leather goods and bedding products, were Chinese made and just used Italy as a selling point to lure customers.

She said they have made three lists, each of which had 10 so-called Italian companies or brands with no connection to Italy.

After examining the lists, a China Daily reporter found most of these Chinese companies were small ones, using names such as Toskany, Obosi and San Marco, which customers might be unfamiliar with.

"Such business has damaged not only Chinese customers' interests and the market but also Italy's image," Gui said. "The prices of some false Italian brands were surprisingly high."

For example, she said a mattress with an Italian-sounding name is selling for 40,000 yuan ($6,340) or more in China, but it has no relation to Italy.

De Sanctis and the lawyer later translated the three lists into Italian and handed them to Chinese and Italian authorities in July.

"It can be taken as win-win cooperation between my group and the Beijing government. I helped them find fake brands as well as protected my country or its companies' reputation," he said.

Currently, the Chinese administration has taken action on the first list of offenders, asking the illegal companies to stop using Italian brands, delete online advertisements about Italy and gave administrative punishments or fines to the businessmen, according to the State Intellectual Property Office.

However, the other two lists are still waiting for replies a year after they were submitted.

"I don't pay heed to the reaction from Chinese officials and customers. After all, I didn't buy brands that I never heard about, and it was not I who was cheated by the fake companies," de Sanctis said.

"The replies that haven't come actually depend on Chinese customers' claim instead of my group. What I did is just to report the phenomenon to the Chinese government."

Leaning back in his chair, the Italian kept silent a few seconds before he went on saying that it is the responsibility and duty for Chinese authorities to fight against fake companies, brands and products instead of a foreigner.

In addition, he said the reason fraud is successful is that most Chinese customers do not think to check a brand's authenticity and always believe foreign brands show their social position.

If they check information online after seeing strange brands, this situation may not exist, he said.

"All my findings are public information that each customer can easily find on the Internet or official websites. It's not a secret or investigation and I'm not a policeman."

He put down the documents and picked up the bottle of wine again, asking me whether I wanted to taste after knowing it is fake. I shook my head.

Laughing a lot, he added the destiny of those fake foreign companies and brands depends on customers' choices.

caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn