A Shanghai counterfeit goods shop favoured by celebrities including singer Celine Dion has been ordered to pay 500,000 yuan (HK$568,000) to the luxury brand Louis Vuitton.
A court ruled in the French company's favour and ordered the owners of Shanghai Zhongwen Trade Co Ltd, a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin and his Shanghainese wife, surnamed Wu, to pay compensation. Louis Vuitton filed the lawsuit in January, after an undercover police investigation, demanding one million yuan in compensation.
It was reported that the couple began selling counterfeit LV bags, wallets and other products in 2001. From 2002 to 2004, the Shanghai Administration of Industry and Commerce confiscated more than 2,000 fake products carrying LV trademarks and those of other international brand names from the couple's company.
In August last year, the couple was detained by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau after it confiscated more than 230 knock-offs worth 1.63 million yuan, with trademarks ranging from LV, Gucci and Prada, the Shanghai Daily reported. Their company was fined 50,000 yuan for selling fakes, and one of the spouses was sentenced to five months' detention.
Dion visited the couple's store in April, the day before she gave a concert in the city. She reportedly travelled with eight bodyguards and crew and purchased 50 counterfeit items - 17 of which were rumoured to be for her - at a cost of about 20,000 yuan. That is roughly the cost of one genuine LV handbag.
The manager of NBA star Kobe Bryant was also spotted making inquiries in the store off Shaanxi Road in the city centre last year.