Today’s Beijing Daily Messenger, has a report on the ‘Louies Berry’ store on Xidan Beidajie, one of most popular shopping streets in Beijing. The logo on the store front sign looks like Versace’s, but the big name under the logo is Louies Berry. At the bottom of the sign is a line saying “Supervised by Italian VERSACE Clothing & Leather Co., Ltd”. A man’s shirt inside the store sells for only 29 Yuan.
The “Versace supervised” clothing in the store are actually produced in Shanghai, by a company called Shanghai Yuhai Shiye Youxian Gongsi which registered their trademark as Luyi Binli, a Chinese transliteration of Louies Berry with the ‘binli’ using the same characters as are used by car brand Bentley.
The Beijing Daily Messenger report quotes a manager from Louies Berry saying that they had signed an agreement with Versace to the effect that Versace would supervise the quality and style Louies Berry products.
However, a PR manager from Versace’s Hong Kong office stated that they had never signed any agreement and have no relationship at all with Louise Berry. The only Versace store in Beijing is in the Peninsula Palace Hotel where the cheapest products cost more than 1,000 yuan.
A spokesperson from the State Administration of Industry and Commerce said that Louies Berry had complete registration materials and owned their own trademark. But another trademark law expert was quoted saying that Louies Berry has already violated IPR laws because they used a very similar trademark in the same industry as Versace without permission. They have also broken a law governing advertising by using a fake endorsement from Versace.