Silk Street tidy up image with Olympics

For Silk Street Market in Beijing, the Olympics means a little different.  Two Olympic delegations, Venezuela and Nauru, chose to wear the market’s namesake brand for the opening ceremony instead of the dominant Adidas and Nike. 

It takes three years for Silk Street to prove its transition from an IPR troublemaker to a creator and a defender. 

Silk Street had been an easy target for years.  LVMH along with four top designer goods companies eventually sued it in court in September 2005. 

Incessant run-ins prompted the market to retool its operation.  IPR may mean not more than a research paper for a scholar.  But for the management of a market, IPR does not pan out that easily.  The management has to rein in profitable shops under its roof.  Silk Street moved on with weeding out 90 dubious shops, even that meant the market had to look for new tenants to fill the vacancies.  In 2006, a 30 million yuan fund was devoted by the management to cut, exempt or reimburse rents of those vendors standing on the right side of IPR protection, provide credibility warranty for famous brands and promote licensing and franchising of brands. Silk Street strived to repaint its image as culture-rich, fashionable, upscale and creative.

On January 18, 2007, Silk Street awarded 40 vendors performing well in its IPR protection campaign.  Paul Ranjard, who headed the European Union Chamber of Commerce IPR Working Group, delivered the prizes to them and said that the effort of the Silk Street Market in bolstering the protection of intellectual property rights was an encouraging sign.

In preparation for the Olympics, the management frequented compliance checks of shops while making the market more true to its name by building a 100-meter long street dedicated to silk, a silk museum as well as a high-end jewelry exchange center.  The market also launched its namesake brand, which are on eight categories of products, ties including shirts, table cloths and carpets.  Over 100 stalls owned by 80 vendors carry them.  With 19 long honored Chinese brands occupying combined 5,000 square meters of its premises, Silk Street towers over every peer in the nation in this department.  (by Fang Fei)

秀水街借奥运东风展知识产权新形象

对于北京秀水街市场来说，北京奥运会有着一份特殊的意义。委内瑞拉和瑙鲁代表团入场时所穿的服装，既不是阿迪达斯，也不是耐克，而是秀水街的自主品牌服装――“秀水街”。

历经3年艰辛的打造，秀水街向世界证明了它从一个知识产权的麻烦制造者变为知识产权的积极创造者和坚定保护者。

过去，秀水街在知识产权方面饱受争议。2005年9月，法国路易威登马利蒂公司等５家外国知名公司联手将秀水街告上法庭。

痛定思痛之后，秀水街决心改变现状。知识产权对于学者来说是一项研究工作，对于市场管理层来说是规范工作，而对于商户，却是实际的利益。但即便这样，秀水街毅然劝退90家涉假商户，收回摊位后重新招商。2006年，秀水街投入3000万元成立“知识产权保护专项基金”，对符合秀水街发展战略、按保护知识产权的原则和标准，调整经营方向、经营模式、经营内容的商户给予租金减免和退还，并为知名品牌进入秀水街提供信誉担保，全力推进品牌授权经营工作，专门用于贯彻、落实打造“文化秀水、时尚秀水、品牌秀水、创新秀水”的发展战略，全力推进知识产权保护工作。

2007年1月18日，秀水街市场管理公司对在知识产权保护行动中取得成绩的40家先进商户进行了隆重表彰。欧盟知识产权工作委员会主席康保罗先生专程来到秀水街为商户们颁奖。他表示，通过秀水街，看到了中国在保护知识产权方面取得了卓有成效的进步。

今年年初，秀水街就开始了奥运总动员，严格检查了摊位，改造建成了百米老字号丝绸一条街、丝绸文化博物馆和经营高档珠宝的秀水国际珠宝交易中心等；同时推出了秀水街第一个自有品牌，包括领带、衬衫、桌布、地毯等８类商品，覆盖80个商户、一百多个摊位。目前，秀水街中华老字号的数量已经达到19家，营业面积达5000平方米，使秀水街成为国内老字号最为集中的市场。（芳 菲）