More than thirty unlicensed Olympic products in a shipment heading to the US have been seized by customs in Dalian, a coastal city in northeastern China's Liaoning Province.

The undated picture shows unlicensed
Olympic commemorative coins and bullions
seized by customs in Dalian, a coastal
city in northeastern China's Liaoning
Province. [Photo: cnr.rn]

China National Radio's website cnr.cn reported that the package contained thirty unlicensed gold and silver commemorative coins and five bullions featuring the image of Fuwa mascots without appropriate anti-counterfeit marks.

Illegal goods bearing the Olympics trademark are prohibited by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad or BOCOG.

Since 2001, when Beijing first won the bid to hold the 2008 Olympics Games, over one thousand types of related products available in the market have become popular with both Chinese and foreign consumers.

As the big event approaches, an official from Dalian customs says they have seized more than one thousand items which infringed on the Olympic-related intellectual properties in the airport customs inspection and express sectors.

To safeguard the country's international image, customs have already enhanced law enforcement rules to supervise outbound shipments in an effort to stamp out unlicensed Olympic products and protect the Olympic intellectual property.

(CCTV.COM)