Beijing's notoriously fake-filled silk market is rewarding tenants who respect IP laws by slashing their rents, according to a report in the local media.

The Beijing News said that 30 vendors at the mall received a total of Rmb10 million ($1.25 million) in rent refunds from the market earlier this month as a reward for respecting IP protection laws.

The market's management is also reported to have set up an IP Rights Protection Fund, made up of Rmb30 million collected from stallholders.

But the reward could be little more than a way of keeping tenants who have complained about reduced flows of shoppers happy, said Joe Simone, a lawyer at Baker & McKenzie who has advised a number of luxury goods companies on their battles to stop counterfeit versions of their products being sold at the market.

Earlier this year, a Beijing appeal court confirmed a ground-breaking lower court ruling in which the Silk Market's landlord – Xiushui Haosen Clothing Market Co Ltd – was held jointly and severally liable for failing to take action against sales of fake Burberry, Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Prada products on its premises.

Simone says that the company that runs the Silk Market has already complained that bad publicity caused by the brand owners' lawsuits has hit business and led to protests from tenants.

"Putting all this together, we believe the Rmb30 million fund is nothing more than a rent rebate programme," said Simone.