TMC reports that a landlord has been found guilty of trade mark infringement in China. The owner of Silk Alley, a shopping mall containing 400 stores was sued by Burberry, Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Prada. The court found that the owners of Silk Alley had made it easy for the private store holders to sell their counterfeit goods onsite. The owners have said that they will appeal, and are arguing that the government, and not landlords, is responsible for trade mark enforcement.
The IPKat thinks that at first site the decision seems pretty harsh but, if you think about it, this isn’t so different from making those who make websites available for unauthorised P2P exchange secondarily liable.