Chinese counterfeiters strike Olympic gold

BEIJING, July 3 (Reuters) Beijing will launch a week-long campaign to root out street peddlers selling fake Olympic products, said the Xinhua news agency today.

Law enforcement agencies in the capital had destroyed three illegal workshops manufacturing fake Olympic souvenirs and confiscated 28,000 finished or half-finished fake products since the beginning of this year, it said.

''The new crackdown will shift focus from illegal manufacturers to street peddlers,'' Xinhua said. It also called on consumers to boycott fake Olympic products.

China is considered the largest source of counterfeit goods in the world, causing billions of dollars in lost sales to makers of everything from music and movie DVDs, designer clothes and consumer electronics and software.

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