China Shuts Down Select Fake Apple Stores in Kunming

Late last week, we posted a story that talked about fake Apple stores being a real problem in Kunming, China, and with the mass popularity the originating blog post experienced, it should have been of little surprise that something could have resulted from the exposure. Today, we learn that some of the stores have been shut down by Chinese officials.

At first glance, it may seem like China is enforcing Apple’s intellectual property rights, but that doesn’t appear to be the case at all. BBC reports that of the five fake Apple stores found in Kunming, two were shut down due to the owners not having an appropriate business license. The other three that remain do, so they are free to continue doing business.

At least one of the stores were selling genuine Apple product, but it’s unknown how the owner acquired it. While it could have been purchased from the grey market, it could also just as easily have been purchased by an official Apple distributor. If Apple wanted to discover this, there would not likely be much of an issue, but at this point it might not even matter.

With the stores allowed to remain, we can get a glimpse of China’s thought process on IP protection. The storefront itself doesn’t seem to matter, as long as the products being sold are legitimate. Apple currently isn’t commenting on the discovery of these shops.