WikiLeaks Cable Apple Slow to Counter Chinese Fakes
Apple did not have a global security team, including in China, until March, 2008, when it hired employees from drug company Pfizer, to counter rampant counterfeiting of its products in China, according to a cable leaked by activist group, WikiLeaks. Apple had not so much as registered its trademarks in China or Hong Kong until Don Shruhan, one of the Pfizer executives, joined the company, the September, 2008 cable from the U.S. embassy in Beijing said. Apple was relatively unknown in China before the introduction of its iPod music player in 2001, and subsequently the iPhone. Now those products are so popular worldwide that China’s notorious counterfeit markets are filled with knock-off versions, according to the cable. Early evidence suggests nearly 100 percent of Apple products in unauthorized mainland markets are knock-offs, while factories in Guangdong province are exporting enough counterfeits to single-handedly supply the world with fake Apple products, the cable said. Readmore
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