Pacific Mall on US 2017 Notorious Markets List for Global Piracy

Pacific Mall, the epicenter of the North Toronto, Scarborough and Markham Chinese locale, made the United States Trade Representative 2017 Special 301 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets.

United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer today announced the findings of the 2017 Special 301 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets, also known as the Notorious Markets List (List). The List highlights 25 online markets and 18 physical markets around the world that are reported to be engaging in and facilitating substantial copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting.

This activity harms the American economy by undermining the innovation and intellectual property rights (IPR) of U.S. owners of IPR in foreign markets. Imports in counterfeit and pirated physical products is estimated at nearly half a trillion dollars, or around 2.5% of global imports.

This is unsurprising to all Chinese and not a few non-Chinese here in Toronto. If you are looking for fake goods, PacMall is the destination location. Pacific Mall has a special tourist destination status, allowing it to open on Canada and Ontario statutory holidays. Um, yea, super convenient. Every once in a blue moon you will hear about a bust for counterfeit goods, even on the CBC.

The rows and aisles of Pacific Mall are named after identical ones in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The Pacific Mall Condominium Corporation is owned and operated by a Jewish company. Within the same area but to the east is Market Village Mall, owned by the Remington Group. Market Village is a nicer and smaller mall, with a lot more variety for food. I have never heard of anyone in Market Village getting busted for counterfeit goods. Both malls have been approved to be torn down and rebuilt in a much larger, almost double, form. What this will do for traffic will be horrendous.

On June 15, 2006, Pacific Mall and Market Village announced plans for a major expansion to the south shopping complex in south Markham. An additional 400,000 square feet (37,000 m²) of retail space, a luxury hotel and a multi-level parking structure were to be built. The project was expected to begin in a year or two, and would bring the combined size of the two malls to about 1 million square feet (92,900 square meters).[3] However, that plan was delayed until late 2009, to open in the early 2010s.[4]

In 2009, plans were drawn up to demolish the entire mall and replace it with a larger and modern complex called the Remington Centre. It will feature a two level structure with over 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2) of retail and commercial space and two condo towers located on the southeast end. The Remington Centre is aiming for LEED status along with the installation of 1100 tonnes of geothermal capacity.[5] It is currently unknown when this mall will be closed. As of early 2017, it was announced that the mall will be hosting its final Chinese New Year celebration prior to its impending closure. A final date of the mall’s closure has not been publicly announced. As of October 2017 a few stores are relocating from the mall and all but two tenants remaining in the food court. source

I know Pacific Mall best because it is usually horrible to drive into or around the immediate area, and avoid it as much as possible. I recall one Chinese New Year where the chaos was so terrible no cars could enter nor leave the mall, it was so jammed full of terrible drivers.

If you are white and enter a store you might not get a warm reception. They might think you are police.

Pacific Mall, Markham, Ontario

With over 270,000 square feet of retail space and more than 500 small shops, the sale of counterfeit goods at Pacific Mall in Ontario is sprawling and pervasive. The mall is touted as the largest Chinese mall in the western world and a recognized tourist destination but it has also been a well-known market for the sale of counterfeit and pirate goods for over a decade. Sales of counterfeit goods in the Pacific Mall reportedly continue despite extensive efforts by brand owners to enforce their trademarks. Vendors in Pacific Mall appear to operate largely with impunity, and requests for assistance from local law enforcement have reportedly gone unanswered. Many of the counterfeit goods including cosmetics, sunglasses, and fragrances pose a risk to public health and safety. source

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Addendum 2018 Mar 21 Canada seizing few shipments of fake goods despite law targeting counterfeits