Cheap deals in NYC could land buyers in jail

By Jane Han

NEW YORK _ Tourists to Manhattan beware: No matter how good the Louis Vuitton Speedy and Rolex Daytona knockoffs look on the streets of the Big Apple, resist the temptation. A cheap deal may get you in trouble with more than just the fashion police.

Fed up with counterfeiters and rip-off merchandise a New York City councilwoman decided to crank up the crackdown with a new law. This time aimed at buyers.

City Councilwoman Margaret Chin proposed a bill this week that would hit guilty bargain hunters with a $1,000 fine or jail time of up to one year.

Sound pretty harsh? Chin doesn’t think so.

``Our lower Manhattan neighborhoods are inundated with illegal vendors. We cannot keep going about this issue in the same way. We need to deter people from purchasing these items,’’ the councilwoman said in a press statement.

Selling counterfeit goods is already illegal but authorities have failed to keep vendors from cluttering the sidewalks with all kinds of knockoffs. From handbags and watches to shoes the wide selection has given Manhattan’s Chinatown the nickname ``counterfeit Mecca.’’

``Our laws are incomplete in that they only target the supply of these items and not the demand,’’ Chin said. ``The bottom line is counterfeiters have to sell to do their job and we need a law in place that punishes buyers for supporting their illegal trade.’’

The black market trade currently costs New York City an estimated $1 billion in tax revenue annually, according to the council member.

If the law is passed, signs notifying the new rules would be put up in problem areas. Only shoppers caught in the act of buying bootleg merchandise could be arrested.

The proposal instantly drew mixed response from vendors and buyers.

``Criminalizing bargain hunters is nuts,’’ says Wanda Lee, a city tour guide. ``How funny is it going to be for an innocent tourist to get a year in jail for buying a lousy Prada knockoff?’’

She claimed one of the very reasons why people seek New York City is the wide range of fake designer labels.

But Wellington Chen of the Chinatown Partnership disagreed.

``Who says that our community needs to have counterfeits? We can make equally good with the talent here in the city,’’ he said.

Like New York, other major cities across the U.S. are upping their ante against sale of imitation goods.

Last August, a massive counterfeit ring in San Francisco was busted for trafficking nearly $100 million worth of knockoffs. In May, Coach sued the city of Chicago for allowing vendors to sell fake products in a popular market in the city.

뉴욕에서 짝퉁 사다가 옥살이 할 수도

뉴욕―맨해튼을 여행하는 사람들은 다음을 주의 하세요. 루비통 스피디와 로렉스데이토나 짝퉁이 빅애플 거리에서 아무리 좋아보여도 이 유혹에 빠지지 마세요. 싼 것을 사다가는 일반인들의 시선 이상으로 곤경에 처할 수도 있다.

짝퉁과 도용상품들에 진력이 나 뉴욕시 한 여성의원이 새로운 법으로 이를 소탕하기로 결정했다. 이번에는 구매자를 대상으로.

마가렛 친 시 의원은 이번 주 범죄성의 짝퉁만 찾는 사람들에게 벌금 1,000 달러 또는 최대 1년 징역형을 내릴 수 있는 법안을 제출했다.

좀 가혹한 것 처럼 들리나요? 친 의원은 그렇게 생각하지 않습니다.

의회 의원은 보도자료에서 “로어 맨해튼 지역은 불법상으로 넘쳐납니다. 이런 식으로 이 문제를 내버려 둘 수 없다”며 “사람들이 이를 사지 못하게 할 필요성이 있다”고 말했다.

짝퉁을 판다는 것은 이미 불법이지만 당국은 온갖 가짜로 보도를 메우고 있는 노점상들을 막지 못했다. 핸드백에서 시계, 구두에 이르기까지 다양한 제품들이 맨해튼의 차이나타운에 “짝퉁의 메카”라는 별명을 붙여주었다.