Results tagged “kadeclub”

Hollywood is a new DVD shop just a few doors away from Oscars (nee Ka De Club) in Taikang Lu. This new DVD emporium stocks an amazing range of new and old American, Chinese and international titles. It is very similar to its neighbour, but with more choice and better merchandising. All of the films are boxed in hardcases on tall shelves along wide aisles. Hollywood is spacious and the layout makes it almost possible to find what you want. One day they may even get round to filing titles into alphabetical order, grouping them by genre.

But they only get RMB 25,000 in damages. The movie companies involved in the suit were New Line Productions, Walt Disney, Warner Bros Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. The defendant was listed as Shanghai Leying Audio Visual Co. Ltd, but this story tells us the company also went by the name "Kadi" and was " well-known to many expatriates in Shanghai for selling pirated products." We think it might be safe to assume that they are talking about Ka De Club, the chain (?) of DVD shops that has been fleecing foreigners for years (OK, perhaps fleecing is a little strong — their prices were around 3 or 4 kuai higher than other shops selling the same thing). Evidently, the name change occurred after charges were filed, so the shop could continue to operate. We've lost track of Ka De — it moved around quite a bit over the years, trying to avoid Johnny Law, we assume (the raid that led to this lawsuit was in Changning) — and then there were Ka De clones, we think, trying to cash in on the "good" name. We have a feeling they'll be back.

We've never been to the knockoff DVD shop called Blockbuster ... and now we'll never get a chance to. The real Blockbuster has seen to it that the place -- which apparently is of the overpriced, 10 kuai per DVD, Kade Club ilk -- lose its name. This is from Access Asia's Weekly View on Asia:

Of course, flipping though last Wednesday's print edition (we found it over the weekend while at Huashan Hospital ... inner ear infection) it is apparent that Shanghai Daily is in no position to refuse ads from anybody -- really, hardly any ads at all. Perhaps it is a wise business move for the paper to team up with an illegal DVD store that grossly overcharges its customers.

chinainternet.jpg
Bothered by slow downloads?

1