"They Are Supposed to Be Fake"
Aug 25, 2011 17:35:43 GMT -5
Post by laohuaqiao on Aug 25, 2011 17:35:43 GMT -5
This story in NY Times left me smiling and shaking my head:
The items, mostly copies of luxury objects, inside the little shop in downtown Manhattan are made of thin cardboard and might not even pass muster deep in the background of a movie set.
But that did not deter the police from arresting a shop worker on counterfeiting charges for selling several items, including Louis Vuitton and Burberry handbags.
There is just one problem: the items are supposed to be fake.
The store, Fook On Sing Funeral Supplies, on Mulberry Street along what is known in Chinatown as Funeral Row, sells traditional objects of mourning, mostly copies of luxury objects. The items are made of cardboard, paper and plastic, to be used at funerals as symbolic gifts for the deceased. The cardboard models are burned as part of traditional Chinese funeral practices.
The store sells a cardboard mansion for $400 and a cardboard flat-screen television for $40. There are stacks of money ($10,000 bills) for sale, as well as miniature sports cars, cellphones, double-breasted suits and even smiling dolls to act as servants in the hereafter.
www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/nyregion/chinatown-funeral-goods-bring-copyright-infringement-arrest.html?_r=1
Maybe the store worker will use the "money" from the store to pay for his bail.
The items, mostly copies of luxury objects, inside the little shop in downtown Manhattan are made of thin cardboard and might not even pass muster deep in the background of a movie set.
But that did not deter the police from arresting a shop worker on counterfeiting charges for selling several items, including Louis Vuitton and Burberry handbags.
There is just one problem: the items are supposed to be fake.
The store, Fook On Sing Funeral Supplies, on Mulberry Street along what is known in Chinatown as Funeral Row, sells traditional objects of mourning, mostly copies of luxury objects. The items are made of cardboard, paper and plastic, to be used at funerals as symbolic gifts for the deceased. The cardboard models are burned as part of traditional Chinese funeral practices.
The store sells a cardboard mansion for $400 and a cardboard flat-screen television for $40. There are stacks of money ($10,000 bills) for sale, as well as miniature sports cars, cellphones, double-breasted suits and even smiling dolls to act as servants in the hereafter.
www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/nyregion/chinatown-funeral-goods-bring-copyright-infringement-arrest.html?_r=1
Maybe the store worker will use the "money" from the store to pay for his bail.
