US Embassy Bangkok Complained Over Lady Gaga's Fake Rolex Tweet

[Nisa]

I wonder if her people make an an idiotic tweet before visiting every country to increase publicity and ultimately make them more money. Nothing kids love more than an artists who upsets mom and dad (officials).

[northernboy]

You do not fool around with the copy rights of the Catholic churches watch company. Or your head will roll and embassies will reprimand you. Not to mention the after life you get.

[Buchholz]

The Commerce Ministry's Intellectual Property Department has officially expressed its disappointment on her tweet to the US Embassy.

An official complaint over a Lady Gaga tweet?!?

That sort of cockamamie absurd nonsense deserves a photo of the man in charge:

public Facebook photo of

Commerce Minister

Pheu Thai Party MP

Boonsong Teriyapirom

[gand]

Doesn't Thailand have bigger issues than anything Lady Gaga has to say or tweet? Who gives a tweet what she tweets?

Edited May 28, 2012 by gand

[pacovl46]

"Thailand has demonstrated serious attempts to suppress IPR violations for a long time."

Yeah, riiiiight!!!!

[baboon]

Holy crap! Is everyone going mad around me? A Governmental complaint over a popstar`s tweet?

Look, just go to war and have done with it.

[pacovl46]

This is just hilarious. Every single main road of every single tourist destination is full of copies that being a watch or a polo-shirt.

Is there anywhere in Thailand where you can purchase original products?

Don't be silly!!!

[anterian]

To me a fake is something not up to the standards of the original, otherwise I call it a copy, illegal or otherwise. For example if a generic drug does the same job and is the same quality as a licensed drug it is a copy not a fake.

Now I have been offered fake Rolexes in Instanbul, Beijing, Hong Kong, Manila, KL, even little Kuchin. Are they fakes or are they copies, I have never bought one as I prefer my cheap timex watches but I have often wondered.

So I am asking, how good are these street corner Rolex watches, are they fakes or are they copies?

[phl]

The Commerce Ministry's Intellectual Property Department has officially expressed its disappointment on her tweet to the US Embassy.

An official complaint over a Lady Gaga tweet?!?

That sort of cockamamie absurd nonsense deserves a photo of the man in charge:

public Facebook photo of

Commerce Minister

Pheu Thai Party MP

Boonsong Teriyapirom

Do i see a fake smile?

[Genericnic]

A Governmental complaint over a popstar`s tweet?

Agreed. Its not like she is Elvis or something.

[pacovl46]

This is just hilarious. Every single main road of every single tourist destination is full of copies that being a watch or a polo-shirt.

Is there anywhere in Thailand where you can purchase original products?

There are a few places but I don't think many are sold due to their high price....a high price caused by the high import/luxury tax placed on them by the Thai govt. So, fake ones are sold instead.

It's not fakes being sold instead! The people who have the cash buy the originals and the people who don't buy cheap fakes that fall apart after a few weeks. There's more people in Thailand who can afford and buy real luxury watches than you might think. And these watches are readily available in Thailand.

[metisdead]

A nonsense post just for the sake of trolling has been removed.

[evadgib]

Given Gaga is a clone of Madonna I can't see what the fuss is about.

[TheWalkingMan]

I wonder if her people make an an idiotic tweet before visiting every country to increase publicity and ultimately make them more money. Nothing kids love more than an artists who upsets mom and dad (officials).

Honestly, how anyone could see this tweet provoking a response from anyone in authority is beyond me and I like to believe that I have a decent imagination. I would be very surprised if they expected the tweet to generate more funds for Gaga. My guess is (that is if they even heard about aftermath) that they are stunned that some people got upset about her tweeting about a very, very public item on sale in several areas of Bangkok.

[Nisa]

A Governmental complaint over a popstar`s tweet?

Agreed. Its not like she is Elvis or something.

I know what Elvis would tweet if he were alive today... "Somebody get me the hell out of this box!"

[blackthorn2005]

"The department was strongly concerned that the singer's behaviour would encourage other tourists to seek and shop for fake products in the country"

And the downside is????

It's already happening but the Thai government hasn't done anything about it,... Start with Khao San Road, Panthip and Chatuchak to crack down, LOL...

They should concentrate on terrorists, not this petty rubbish!

[sbk]

off topic bickering removed.

[Bagwan]

The irony is: Rolex is not even Americans.

The complaint is about Lady Gaga being American and bringing some disrespect to Thailand, not the country of watch origin.

May I complain at the Austrian embassy for Lady Gaga being American and not Austrian?

If I understand it right the American embassy has no power to close Lady Gagas mouth.....

Of course they don't.

Does anybody know who might have that power? Just their telephone number will do. With a little persuasion I might be able to cajole them to provide a degree of peace and quiet from this virago and her PR machine. I'd be happy to provide the needle and thread or Loctite. Then maybe I could safely repose and listen to my Vera Lynn 78's.

What a pity that the US Ambassador didn't have the balls to tell the Thai complainant that this freaky female person is a US citizen and is therefore a free spirit - or loose cannon depending upon the viewpoint. The citizens of other civilised countries also have basic freedoms and are prone to exercise them on occasion. It might be added that some thousands of people from the 'Free World' died trying to give the Thai peoples the freedoms that we enjoy - and it is Thai people that prevent the exercise of those rights. That brings a far greater shame to Thailand than an off the cuff remark about a copy of an expensive bauble.

Edited May 28, 2012 by Bagwan

[sprq]

Another garbled headline from The Nation, the newspaper which fired most of its native speaker sub-editors a few years ago and has reaped the shoddy results daily ever since.

Somebody should complain about their bad English giving Thailand a bad image.

[ttelise]

To me a fake is something not up to the standards of the original, otherwise I call it a copy, illegal or otherwise. For example if a generic drug does the same job and is the same quality as a licensed drug it is a copy not a fake.

Now I have been offered fake Rolexes in Instanbul, Beijing, Hong Kong, Manila, KL, even little Kuchin. Are they fakes or are they copies, I have never bought one as I prefer my cheap timex watches but I have often wondered.

So I am asking, how good are these street corner Rolex watches, are they fakes or are they copies?

Place a real one side by side to any fake and just look.

There are no copies of a Rolex as you described. Rolex have perpetual movement internals, no battery, and a sweeping second hand. A copy would be same size, same weight, and have the same internals.

These fakes are attempts made to resemble one, but typically look nothing like one in size or feel. They don't use real gold or platinum. They generally look like a crappy date just made in the 60s at that, but then again typically look nothing like any real Rolex model I have seen or owned.

Just accept that they are fakes if they say Rolex and purport to look like a Rolex. A copy would cost about the same as the real one, or perhaps even more due to economies of scale.

Edited May 28, 2012 by ttelise

[phl]

If the officials wanted to come out looking good, they should have replied or twitted something like " do you not sell enough records? that you can not afford the real deal?"

In my opinion, this kind of response, would of been smart and saved face, but instead they chose the upset child approach, which only makes other kids laugh

[jayboy]

Lady Gaga made a flip offhand remark about fake Rolexes.Lady Gaga said she was sorry and that it wasn't to be taken seriously.Lady Gaga performed her gig and went away.Bye bye Lady Gaga.The fake Rolexes are still here as is the dim bulb bureaucrat who complained.

[Moruya]

Here is a funny thing, when US complains to Thailand about all the fakes, Thailand just rolls eyes and claims they are doing everything they can, ie nothing.

Now the Thai's are complaining to US that US citizen come to Thailand to buy fakes

The irony

Hahaha.

It'd be rounded off by Obama buying some viagra on Sukhumvit

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Thaivisa Connect App

[Jingthing]

Do these Thai officials (or the tweet freak outers) actually believe Lady Gaga was really in the market for a fake Rolex?

[dru2]

The irony is: Rolex is not even Americans.

So, what does that have to do with the price of eggs in China?

Although you and some others have criticized the comment, it was relevant. The US would have no legal interest in responding to an allegation of trademark/trade dress on a rolex. Therefore, it would not even have registered at the US trade desk. Hence, the US would not have even been involved, nor cared. In any case, the US wasn't involved and this is all the newspaper's creation.

Carry on.

By God you're sharp!

[sbk]

Another garbled headline from The Nation, the newspaper which fired most of its native speaker sub-editors a few years ago and has reaped the shoddy results daily ever since.

Somebody should complain about their bad English giving Thailand a bad image.

And someone should remind people that hijacking a topic with off topic nit picking is poor netiquette and could lead to posts being removed. Lets do try to stay on topic, cheers

[gand]

I am sure the US Embassy gave it all the attention it deserved.

[dru2]

Obviously things are going very well in Thailand if this is what is on people's minds. Not like millions of folks don't head to NY City (Gaga's home town) every year to buy cheap crack and heroin.

Yes but... Americans don't complain to the Thai Embassy in Washington DC about Thais heading to NYC to buy smack. Or - more likely - to sell something else.

[Nisa]

Do these Thai officials (or the tweet freak outers) actually believe Lady Gaga was really in the market for a fake Rolex?

I'm fairly confident she isn't even the one who controls her twitter account.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/technology/internet/27twitter.html

http://blackrhinosolutions.com/webdesignblog/online-marketing/social-networking/do-think-your-really-communicating-with-celebrities-on-twitter/

Edited May 28, 2012 by Nisa

[bigbamboo]

They are still complaining about this, why does Thailand think the world visit this country for, Of course for the cheap fake products, the world already knows about the fake products, but as other postes already said "The government does nothing about it" so why do they care, they say it hurts the countries image, sure it does, but it dont seem to get them off their butt to do anything about it, Gosh, I mean look she said things about china, and japan and their just go along with it, cause they know its true as the world alreadfy knows it too, why does Thailand have to be so hard assed about it

You mean it's not true that tourists come to Thailand to walk around endless temples, visit shopping malls just like home except their colder,, sample some dodgy street food (once) and buy exotic local produce at the famous floating market, which is just as fake as a Thai Rolex.