

Fake Disney hotel.



With Shanghai Disneyland promised to finally make its long-awaited opening next spring, the local hotel industry has been preparing itself by creating some trademark infringing branding to help draw in clueless guests.

The city government is now cracking down on these “Shanzhai Disney” establishements, fining five knockoff hotels 100,000 yuan all together, according to Xinhua. These hotels are all located in Pudong New District and happen to be owned by the Shenzhen Vienna Hotels Group.

To create the illusion of official Disney licensing, the hotels used clever strategies like putting “Disney” in brackets after their brand names. This is despite the fact that some of the establishments are a bit from Disneyland.

“Some of the hotels are more than 10 km away from Disneyland. They misdirect customers to very far away places in the name of Disney. This kind of behavior exploits Disney’s trademarks and goodwill and will cause real damage to its trademarks,” Xinhua said in its report.





Real Disney hotel.



This initiative comes three weeks after the State Administration for Industry and Commerce announced a nationwide, year-long campaign that would give Disney special trademark protection in an all-out effort to rid the market of knockoffs.

In September, the Shanghai government announced that 153 heavy polluting companies will be closed in Pudong by the end of 2016 in order to clean up the air for the massive theme park.

Shanghai Disneyland Resort has cost an estimated $4.4 billion to build. When it (hopefully) opens in the spring it will be the largest theme park in China and is projected to draw crowds of 17 million each year. It will feature six themed lands that are tailor-made for Chinese tourists and cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

Even visitors from other worlds have been eagerly anticipating its opening:



Mysterious Mickey Mouse figure appears on farmland near Shanghai Disneyland. Aliens might be trying to tell us something? Posted by Shanghaiist on Monday, October 26, 2015

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[Images via CCTV]