Magherafelt trader given a suspended sentence for selling counterfeit CDs and DVDs

An online trader who was manufacturing and selling counterfeit CDs and DVDs was today given a four month suspended sentence (suspended for two years) at Magherafelt Magistrates court.

In a case brought by the Trading Standards Service of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Mr. Terrance Simmons, who traded on eBay and via his own website “My Lady Gaga” pleaded guilty to a total of 8 charges under the Trade Marks Act 1994 and the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998. Mr Simmons was also forfeited two computers and other equipment. In May 2012, Trading Standards Officers, accompanied by recording industry specialists, visited Mr. Simmons’s home and found that he had turned his spare room in to a small business for the manufacture and sale of counterfeit Lady Gaga CDs and DVDs. The officers seized a quantity of pre-recorded and blank CDs and DVDs and their associated art work. Computers, CD/DVD rewriters and master copy CDs and DVDs were also seized.  Mr. Simmons had been operating a website “My Lady Gaga” which he used to sell illegal copies of both trademarked and copyrighted works all over the world. He also used various identities on eBay to sell the fake goods.