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Omni-MATH / The equation

Problem

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problem

The equation (x−1)(x−2)⋯(x−2016)=(x−1)(x−2)⋯(x−2016)(x-1)(x-2)\cdots(x-2016)=(x-1)(x-2)\cdots (x-2016) is written on the board, with 20162016 linear factors on each side. What is the least possible value of kk for which it is possible to erase exactly kk of these 40324032 linear factors so that at least one factor remains on each side and the resulting equation has no real solutions?
Plain-text mathematical notation (without MathML)
The equation
(x−1)(x−2)⋯(x−2016)=(x−1)(x−2)⋯(x−2016)
is written on the board, with 2016 linear factors on each side. What is the least possible value of k for which it is possible to erase exactly k of these 4032 linear factors so that at least one factor remains on each side and the resulting equation has no real solutions?
Original LaTeX notation
The equation
$$(x-1)(x-2)\cdots(x-2016)=(x-1)(x-2)\cdots (x-2016)$$
is written on the board, with $2016$ linear factors on each side. What is the least possible value of $k$ for which it is possible to erase exactly $k$ of these $4032$ linear factors so that at least one factor remains on each side and the resulting equation has no real solutions?

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