Man tells Court Celine didn't buy fake Louis Vuitton

[critias]

Celine buying fake LV, what a joke ha ha

But i wouldn't be surprised if she met a fortune teller. She's kind of superstitous person after all.

[JP]

secondly they usually close the store when she is shopping

Not all the times, sometimes she just stop because it's on her way, because she wants too.. She did it in Quebec, she stop at a few stores and there was people already inside

[SensationalCeline]

Boy, I would love to be in a store that she just happened to walk into!!!!!! What a dream!

[CSCfan]

Celine Dion wanted fortune told, not designer bags: Chinese merchant

 

By Aileen McCabe, Asia Correspondent, Canwest News ServiceApril 13, 2009 11:01 AM

 

SHANGHAI — A local knock-off merchant told a court here that Celine Dion wasn’t shopping for fake designer bags when she visited his store last spring, she just wanted her fortune told.

 

Shop owner Lin Yi Zhong is being sued by the international luxury merchandiser Louis Vuitton, which is claiming $177,000 in damages for violation of its trademark. It’s a huge sum by Chinese standards, but LV is arguing that if Lin is serving a clientele that includes superstars like Dion, he must be commanding good prices for his knock-offs.

 

Lin, whose store is hidden in a lane off a busy downtown Shanghai street, came to LV’s attention when Chinese media caught Dion “shopping” there last April, during her concert tour of China.

 

The international chanteuse wasn’t carrying any bags when she left the store, but intrepid reporters staked out her hotel and snapped photos as nine bags of merchandise were delivered from Lin’s store. The court heard that the subsequent news stories alleged Dion bought 50 knock-off items, including several LV products.

 

Lin’s lawyer argued the reporters did not witness Dion actually buying anything and they “misunderstood the whole thing.”

 

Police raided Lin’s store last August and found a treasure trove of bogus designer goods in hidden cupboards.

 

Lin subsequently pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit merchandise — but not to Dion.

 

He merely told her fortune, he said.

 

In an interview with the Shanghai Morning Post, Lin said he spent nearly 30 years studying “ren xiang xue” — physiognomy, or reading faces — “and enjoyed a high reputation in his field.”

 

He said: “I have many friends and most of them are famous people. They like to ask me to tell their fortunes.”

 

Lin showed the reporter a photo of Dion taken in his shop and pointed out she was not wearing makeup.

 

“That was for fortune telling. I asked her not to wear any makeup. She agreed after consideration and wore a pair of large sunglasses.”

 

Dion was so grateful for the reading, Lin claimed, she gave him five tickets to her Shanghai concert, worth $2,700.

 

Lin has twice been found guilty of selling fake merchandise, in 2002 and 2004, but both times walked away with a small fine because his estimated profits were less than $9,000.

 

This time, however, the court was told his merchandise is worth $286,000, so his fine could be significantly higher, particularly if the celebrity connection is proven. The court has reserved judgment.

 

China is a haven for all types of international property rights violators.

 

Shanghai alone has two large knock-off markets that sell shoes, clothes, purses, suitcases and watches. But they only account for a small part of the action. In central Shanghai, where the luxury brands have their own stores in some of the city’s costliest real estate, touts line the nearby streets hoping to lure their customers into back alley shops selling knock-off versions of the same Rolex watches, Mont Blanc pens and Chanel bags.

 

Meanwhile, on street corners all over the city, pirated first-run movies are sold on makeshift tables for $1 to $2.

 

The biggest scam of all, however, is probably ripping-off music. It is so rampant — it’s estimated 99 per cent of all the music downloaded across the country is done illegally — that this month Google convinced four major music companies to let it distribute their songs for free. Now, anyone who accesses Google.cn from a computer inside China can legally download music from Sony, EMI, Universal and Warner.

 

Google hopes the plan will increase its market share in China and the music companies expect they’ll gain more from advertising on the website than they ever did from selling their music here.

 

© Copyright © Canwest News Service

[Jacqui]

Just a thought, that came to me from absolutely nowhere- why would you trust someone who is known for selling fake goods, to tell your fortune? Who's to say that what they tell you isn't fake too? I think like, 95% of fortune tellers probably are fake, actually.