Chinese Knockoff of Top Singapore Nightclub is So Perfect, It’s Even Fooling DJs

January 9, 2017

Zouk is an award-winning, popular nightclub in Singapore recognized among the world’s top clubs. As it is internationally renowned, Zouk Singapore has been able to attract the biggest DJs around the world.

In China, a counterfeit version of the iconic club exists in Hunan Province, known as Zouk Changsha. The fake Zouk has reportedly been passing itself off as a legit branch, successfully inviting popular international DJs who had no idea it was fake. To dupe customers and acts, the fake Chinese Zouk uses the brand’s logo and even the DJ Mag Top 100 ranking in posters and ads.

According to the Straits Times, the original Zouk’s management has been aware of the fake club since last year.

“We have been aware since last year of Zouk Changsha’s events and them using our trademark,” a Zouk representative was quoted as saying. “We are also aware that they have made reference to Zouk Singapore and our ranking as the No. 6 club in the world (based on the 2016 DJ Mag club polls) in some of their event posters and have also worked with credible sponsors (including Jaguar and Evisu) for some of their events.”

Zouk Singapore has reportedly filed a complaint with the Changsha local police, which conducted a raid back in July 2016. The Chinese club has recently changed its name to “Zook”, but Zouk still plans to further pursue the case against it.

“We are exploring our options at the moment,” the spokesman said.

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South Korean DJ Jangil Han AKA Reverse Prime revealed to Mashable that he was not aware that Zouk Changsha was just an unauthorized clone of the Singapore brand when he was booked for a show last year. He said that the reason he thought Changsha was authentic was that famous artists such as DJ from Mars and Tenishia have performed there in the past.

“How could I know (if it was) real or fake?” he said.

Zouk, which now owned by conglomerate Genting Hong Kong (GHK), only has a sister club at Ampang Road (Jalan Ampang) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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