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Fines for Fakes

Italy's war on counterfeit products
gives a new meaning to "caveat emptor"

photo

ABOVE: If your ten-euro gondolier hat bears a Prada label, keep an eye out for the cops.


Also see:
Illegal Street Vendors - "vu compra"

Looking for a fake Prada? An phony Gucci? An ersatz Louis Vuitton? A pirated copy of Mission Impossible or Microsoft Word? Street vendors in Italy (most of whom are from Senegal) will be happy to accommodate you, but watch out: A new law makes buyers of counterfeit goods liable for fines of €3333 to €10000, and some tourists have already learned that Italian police can be a more expensive threat than purse-snatchers and pickpockets.

A Reuters news story from August, 2005 quoted the deputy mayor of Venice as stating that "Our fight against the illegal street trade is untiring." That statement may be hyperbole, to judge from Venice's sporadic enforcement of previous laws against street vendors, but the fact remains that some foreign tourists have already nabbed and whacked with huge fines.

Ironically, some of the knockoffs that Italy's authorities are trying to discourage are produced by moonlighting employees of the designers' own factories. To make matters more complicated, the Italian Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that counterfeiting isn't a crime unless the buyer thinks the counterfeited item is the real thing--which is unlikely if the Vuitton or Prada lookalike is being sold from a rug in the Calle Larga XXII Marzo.

Still, with Italy's annual sales of fake goods estimated at four to six billion euros, the authorities are under growing international pressure to bring counterfeiting and piracy under control. As a result, the expression "Let the buyer beware" has a new meaning--and unlucky tourists who run afoul of the law may wish they'd bought the real thing instead of a 10,000-euro knockoff.


Also see:
Illegal Street Vendors - "vu compra"



Hotel tip: Location can be important when choosing a hotel in Venice or on the mainland. Before booking, read our No. 1 Warning and Venice Hotel Recommendations by Area.


Venice canal reflections

A water taxi ride to Venice Airport
A warning about water taxis

Venice Railroad Station: a vaporetto view
Long lines at Venice Airport
Free boat trips to Murano

Need to pee? Prepare to pay
The perils of overpacking
Flood warning: the sound of sirens

Stupid tourist tricks
Johnny Depp's palazzo
Venetian daily life


Maggie in Venice

From Maggie in Venice:

A dog's life in Venice
A Beagle boards a water bus
Venice Carnival for dogs


Venice cruise review:


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