Knockoff News 69
A weekly (or thereabouts) collection of news about counterfeits, fakes, knockoffs, replicas, imitations, and the culture of copying in general around the globe:
- Sole proprietor: Louboutin sees red over knockoffs
- Auction block: Gucci threatens eBay with lawsuit
- Lucky charms: New micro-tech marks authentic goods without marring design
- Biotech: Botanical DNA used to mark authentic products
- All together now: APEC joint statement condemns counterfeits
- United they fall: Manchester is the UK's capital of counterfeits
- Political purse party: UK Lib Dems demand action against fakes
- Mark to market: Anti-counterfeiting effort clears path for Puma in China
- Marshall law: University cracks down on counterfeits
- Sidewalk sale: NY shopping guide suggests Soho originals, Canal Street fakes
- Trendspotting: Low quality luxe means good times for emerging designers, quality fakes
- LA story: Fashion fission over anti-knockoff bill
- "Like cheating on a test": Knockoffs offer brief frisson of excitement
- Holy Toledo: Ohio Congresswoman calls for action against China
- Faking it: Do high-priced goods promote prostitution and affairs?
- Usual suspects: Deluxe author repeats terror, child labor charges against counterfeits
- Deja vu: NYT recounts arguments for, against design piracy
- Fighting the good fight: High fashion battles knockoffs
- Police report
And finally, a recent Radar online guide to counterfeits offers this dubious homage to the Lacoste alligator:
While the unfortunate reptile struck me as strangely familiar, it hasn't previously appeared on Counterfeit Chic. After some reflection, I realized that this particular dead 'gator is actually a ghost from my childhood -- the subject of a case brought in 1982, to be exact, and settled a couple of years later. Apparently Mad Dog, the onetime parodist of preppiedom who drew the ire of first Izod Lacoste and then Ralph Lauren, is still around. And either I have better recall than I suspected or I've been studying the legal implications of imitation fashion for far too long -- or both. Thanks to my Fordham law student James Creedon for an unexpected trip down memory lane.
