Lights out for bulb counterfeiter

A man has been arrested, accused of counterfeiting Philips, Osram and other light bulbs, prosecutors in Fengxian District said on Monday.

In December last year, Fengxian police received a report of someone making fake Philips and Osram bulbs in a village in suburban Jiading District.

An investigation and subsequent raid on December 12 of a warehouse where a man named Yu was counterfeiting branded bulbs led to seizure of thousands of counterfeits. The market prices of originals of the bulbs added up to more than 150,000 yuan (US$22,000).

Yu confessed, telling police that he used to work in a filament factory but left because of the low salary. He tried to start his own, honest, business but still lost money, which made him consider counterfeiting.

He bought a printer online with some trademarks of large bulb producers, bought unbranded bulbs at low prices and had packs made by a fake pack maker.

Initially, he made the fakes in his truck, but soon rented a warehouse in Jiading, taking orders during the day and producing bulbs at night.