Genuine Fakes, Anyone?

       A few months ago, as we were lazing in the U.S., a news story broke and achieved some international notoriety.  Apparently an American blogger had turned up a fake Apple Store in Kunming, China.  He publicized his discovery by writing of it and posting pictures of the store and its workers on his blog.  The BBC, NPR, and other international news organizations picked up on the story, and shortly the local authorities in Kunming were shocked, shocked to find more than a dozen other fake Apple Stores.  Reportedly, these were all closed down. I found the story fascinating, not because someone had found an ersatz Apple Store in China, but because the media considered it newsworthy.

        This is the land of the genuine fake, be it remembered.  I doubt there is a legitimate product (or an illegitimate one, come to that) available anywhere in the world that does not have a fake twin made in China.  As exhibit A I offer this photo of my neighbor’s flip-flops, parked outside his front door:

        For exhibits B through Z and beyond, I encourage you to enquire of Microsoft, Apple, Calvin Klein, Rolex, Gucci, KFC, or any music or film distributor you care to name.  Or really, just pick any company that has tried to sell anything in China and ask if they have had their products copied without their permission.

        This phenomenon really is the greatest hindrance to innovation and entrepreneurship in this country.  There is absolutely no incentive to tinker and toil in your workshop to produce a better mousetrap, because it is a given that if you do come up with something clever, unique, and useful, there will be a dozen competitors undercutting you with cheap knock-offs before you can say “Intellectual pr-”. And unless you have some serious “guanxi” (connections), good luck in getting the competitors shut down.  The legal system here offers no succor to the wronged entrepreneur without connections.

        So, as I say, the amazing thing to me about the saga of the fake Apple Stores was not that they existed; rather that anyone got excited about their existence.  I would have been far more interested if someone had made a tour of China and found no fake Apple Stores.