There are violations of trademark laws in the intention to confuse the marketplace, use trademarked items PRS has exclusive rights to, and use the actual trademark itself! These are obviously being promoted as counterfeit goods.
The copyright violations - these are separate issues from the trademark violations - include the misuse of pictures, videos, and promotional materials created for and by PRS.
I realize that there isn't much we can do about preventing Chinese con artists making use of the internet. But China is a police state, and their government is certainly in a position to shut this company down if it chooses to.
However, by virtue of the fact that these items are being imported into this country, they are subject to our laws, and our customs people, and these counterfeits shouldn't escape confiscation the moment they are in our territorial waters. If we have to abide by things like the CITES laws, surely our government can make some tiny effort to prevent the importation of goods that clearly and intentionally violate our laws.
The trademark laws allow PRS to get federal court orders to have these items confiscated and to prevent their entry into the US. Whether that's worth the effort, I can't say, that's a business decision for PRS. But if I were Paul, I'd be pretty darn sick of this kind of thing.
If the Chinese won't enforce the international treaties and laws they are signatories to, then their goods should be embargoed. All of their goods. That would get their attention.
Unfortunately, our corporations that sell, and incorporate, Chinese made goods in their product lines are not exactly on board with this for obvious reasons. It's sickening. China's corruption is no surprise, but we've given them a stranglehold on certain aspects of our economy. Many of our corporations simply accept this corruption as a cost of getting cheap goods to sell to us.
But this nonsense is why we see counterfeit goods from time to time here. It's highly unfair to businesses like PRS, who not only make goods here, but who also import goods through legit channels.
I have my own little boycott of Chinese goods going whenever it's possible (sometimes you cannot find a product that doesn't have chinese parts), and this kind of thing is partly why (I also find that Chinese goods are poorly made and prone to failure; then there is the whole issue of how they run their factories). With this trade imbalance, the tail wags the dog. Imagine what would happen in the event of hostilities!
I'll get off my soapbox now. I'm sure you're all sick of my ranting, and I don't wish to appear to be political.
