The U.S. Golf Manufacturers Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group, which includes the Acushnet Company, Callaway Golf, Cleveland Golf, MacGregor Golf, Nike, PING, and TaylorMade-adidas Golf, announced last week that the Chinese government has launched a major new offensive against manufacturers and retailers of counterfeit golf equipment in China.

The Group said that Chinese authorities began a campaign of factory and retail raids shortly following recent meetings between International Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Coordinator Chris Israel and Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi, where the widespread problem concerning counterfeiting of golf equipment was addressed.

As part of its obligations as a World Trade Organization member and other commitments it has made to control piracy of goods, the Chinese government promised that enforcement action would be taken. The most impressive of the raids, which ran from Beijing in the north to Shenzhen in the south, were against counterfeit golf retailers in the Beijing Silk Market, a well known counterfeit haven in Beijing. Chinese officials raided the Beijing Silk Market and shut down all counterfeit golf retail operations in the market. In quick succession, raids were also carried out in Beijing, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Dongguan, Chang'an, Zhongshan, and Shenzhen, netting more than $5 million in seized goods.