Features Local News Will the Real Apple Identify the Orange?
Today, we live in a world where technology, industry and intellectual property intersect and is becoming a really tricky thing.
Case in point? Chinese Apples.
There are plenty of known black market ripoffs, from Rolex watches, to fake trucks in Mexico, to Elvis impersonators, plenty of copy cats to trying to look like the real deal.
Then there are Apple stores in China, that aren't real and they're popping up all over.
In a post dated Wednesday on the blog BirdAbroad, the citizen reporter (an employee of an international public health organization) said she was initially duped by the quality of the fake Apple store. It had the iconic clean wood interior, the Apple branded posters on the walls, the employees with those tell-tale blue polo shirts and chunky name tags hanging around their necks. The store appeared to sell real Apple products.
Entire stores designed to sell fake Apple products (or rip-offs) with the trademarked logo, employees dress like Apple employees, the place is designed to look just like an Apple store, but, it isn't Apple. It'a a fraud.
There are international copyright laws by way of treaties that many nations adhere to or where they step on preverbeal toes that implicate issues with politicians, celebrities, monarchies, government secrets. Like Napster in the old days, before it was sold, sued, reorganized and legitimized or LimeWire which still has data transfer issues stemming from copywritten music, video, software trades that go unchecked, to piratebay which literally had it's day in court or Wikileaks (and if you followed that at all, you know where that ended up).
So who's going to enforce this intellectual property theft occuring in China? China? Don't think so. It's a lose-lose situation. Good thing about this information coming out, people can identify them, so if you've read this or you are web savvy, you will know to look online before you buy in a store such as this.
About the writer: Aaron Conaway is a web designer, photographer, video producer, video editor, screen-writer and a solo musician. For more on him visit his site www.turbowebguy.com.
Disclaimer: "Apple", "Los Angeles Times", "BirdAbroad" have no affiliation with Desert West Media. This article is intended for informational purposes only.