Thanks for the memories, San Disk. Or, memory--or whatever it is you do. China's still not clear on that part. But those karaoke machines you make are gonna be a hot seller if they can clear Customs.
Karaoke's still hot in many parts of the nation -- and where there's heat, there's flaming hot counterfeits. A million bucks worth of karaoke machines have been nabbed by Customs. 1,932 of them to be exact -- all bearing counterfeit logos. That logo on the karaoke machines is the interesting part, since it's a brand American consumers aren't familiar with at all for the U.S. karaoke market: San Disk. In fact San Disk itself isn't so familiar with it either.
The electronics could've netted about a $1 million on the retail market -- found in a container shipment slated to enter the Los Angeles-Long Beach ports from China.
It comes down to a bit of a translation issue -- as in, a company specializing in memory manufacture does not translate to karaoke electronics. You would kind of think China would know that considering the tech industry and all. The country does knock off virtually everything in existence, even golf clubs -- so perhaps it was simply an oversight.
Somewhere there's a load of memory marked 'Ping'. And 'Philips' must've already been adorning a bottle of Chanel.
It's unclear whether the Los Angeles-Long Beach port and Customs actually viewed the San Disk logo on karaoke machines as a tip-off -- or whether it all worked out as sort of a happy accident. The spokesperson for Customs "declined" to say how employees determined the karaoke machines as counterfeit. Had workers noticed the San Disk part, you'd kind of think the agency would be boasting about its quickness in that department. In the meantime, Customs seems to be mum on the matter -- and there seems to be a lot to be taken from that silence. The agency instead refers to the electronics arriving from an importer, or area, of China that doesn't match the product.
Sherlock Holmes need never be jealous.
As it turns out, the funniest part may not have to do with the stupidity of Chinese counterfeiters. Customs may have one-upped the foreign country -- so choose to be humored, or extremely frightened, by the following:
The Customs spokesman has announced the counterfeit karaoke machines will "likely" be destroyed: "Normally, with this type electronics they'll be destroyed because the trademark owner won't want to run any risk of putting the merchandise on the market at all, they just want the stuff destroyed."
Thanks for the memories, San Disk. Or, memory--or whatever it is you do. China's still not clear on that part. But those karaoke machines you make are gonna be a hot seller if they can clear Customs.
Karaoke's still hot in many parts of the nation -- and where there's heat, there's flaming hot counterfeits. A million bucks worth of karaoke machines have been nabbed by Customs. 1,932 of them to be exact -- all bearing counterfeit logos. That logo on the karaoke machines is the interesting part, since it's a brand American consumers aren't familiar with at all for the U.S. karaoke market: San Disk. In fact San Disk itself isn't so familiar with it either.
The electronics could've netted about a $1 million on the retail market -- found in a container shipment slated to enter the Los Angeles-Long Beach ports from China.
It comes down to a bit of a translation issue -- as in, a company specializing in memory manufacture does not translate to karaoke electronics. You would kind of think China would know that considering the tech industry and all. The country does knock off virtually everything in existence, even golf clubs -- so perhaps it was simply an oversight.
Somewhere there's a load of memory marked 'Ping'. And 'Philips' must've already been adorning a bottle of Chanel.
It's unclear whether the Los Angeles-Long Beach port and Customs actually viewed the San Disk logo on karaoke machines as a tip-off -- or whether it all worked out as sort of a happy accident. The spokesperson for Customs "declined" to say how employees determined the karaoke machines as counterfeit. Had workers noticed the San Disk part, you'd kind of think the agency would be boasting about its quickness in that department. In the meantime, Customs seems to be mum on the matter -- and there seems to be a lot to be taken from that silence. The agency instead refers to the electronics arriving from an importer, or area, of China that doesn't match the product.
Sherlock Holmes need never be jealous.
As it turns out, the funniest part may not have to do with the stupidity of Chinese counterfeiters. Customs may have one-upped the foreign country -- so choose to be humored, or extremely frightened, by the following:
The Customs spokesman has announced the counterfeit karaoke machines will "likely" be destroyed: "Normally, with this type electronics they'll be destroyed because the trademark owner won't want to run any risk of putting the merchandise on the market at all, they just want the stuff destroyed."
Phew, that's good to know. San Disk can sleep soundly tonight -- assured the company's got nothing to worry about, cuz Customs has got its 'back'. San Disk wouldn't want all those fake karaoke machines loose -- to compete with its real, branded ones. It could just really screw up value for the electronics company.