The Shanghai Administration of Industry and Commerce has issued a ban on unauthorized sale of products of 20 international name brands in more than 600 clothing and other merchandise markets in the city.

Name brands on the list include Giorgio Armani, Versace, Gucci, Omega and Rolex in what is the second ban after the first went into effect three years ago, banning unauthorized sale of 40 internationally famous brands including LV, Hermes and Marlboro, said Chen Xuejun, deputy director of the administration.

Chen said any businesses that attempt to sell the brands on the list without authorization will be prosecuted for infringement of intellectual property rights.

Market owners are required to cancel contracts with suppliers of fake brand commodities, and the market owners will be punished if they tolerate such actions, Chen said.

According to Chen, the administration carried out about 5,000 checks in the city's markets in 2006, cracked 2,076 cases of trademark infringements and confiscated and destroyed more than 1.5 million fake commodities.

The administration also announced ten major trademark infringement cases last year. Among them, the Shanghai Jingyang Clothing Market was fined 120,000 yuan (US$15,500) for selling fake Adidas sportswear, and 1,137 clothings found in its warehouse were confiscated.

A Shanghai-based cashmere company was fined 297,000 yuan (US$38,500) for using YSZ, a close equivalent of the design of the French brand YSL, as its trademark.

Xing Dongsheng, director of the trademark department in the administration, said it had also advised people not to buy fake commodities, and encouraged them to report any offenses.

China kicked off a weeklong campaign for promoting intellectual property right protection on Friday, including knowledge contests, parties, forums and large-scale destructions of confiscated fake products.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2007)