South Africa: Pakistani Businessman in Court for Cigarette Smuggling
Yesterday, 38-year-old Suid Mohammed appeared in the Lehurutshe Magistrate’s Court for trying to smuggle illicit tobacco worth more than R360 000,00 to South Africa through the Skilpadhek border post that South Africa shares with Botswana.
The Skilpadhek border police, in conjunction with the Directorate for Priority Investigation (the Hawks), arrested Muhammad in a joint, intelligence-driven operation on 27 December 2014. A total of 36 boxes, which contained cartons of illicit Pacific Blue cigarettes, were found hidden in a false compartment created in a trailer pulled by a bakkie driven by Mohammed.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201412300924.html
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Saudi seizes smuggled ‘X-Mas’ trees
Saudi customs authorities arrested two Arab men trying to smuggle Christmas trees into the conservative Gulf kingdom through its King Fahd causeway linking it with Bahrain. Officials said the trees were confiscated as they violated the country’s rules which ban celebrations on this occasion.
Sharq newspaper quoted the causeway’s director Daifallah Al Otaibi as saying legal measures would be taken against the two smugglers but he did not specify the punishment. “The punishment depends on the type of the smuggled products and whether they are for personal or commercial use,” he said.
http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/saudi-seizes-smuggled-x-mas-trees-2014-12-30-1.574976
Lear MoreRetailers fear surge in illegal cigarettes
Dismissed Customs exec Ernesto Aradanas denies link to oil smuggling
The former chief of the Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) Davao collection district has dismissed as “not true, baseless and malicious” reports on his alleged involvement in oil smuggling, among other irregularities.
Retired Army Brig. Gen. Ernesto Aradanas, who was relieved of his post on Oct. 1, has called for due process and an impartial investigation of his case.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/659922/dismissed-customs-exec-ernesto-aradanas-denies-link-to-oil-smuggling#ixzz3NYQZftz8
Lear MoreAlibaba Spends More Than $160 Million In Fight Against Counterfeit Goods
Alibaba claims that the company has spent more than $160 million in its crusade to eliminate fake products in its e-commerce website. This figure encompasses their spending’s starting Jan 2013 until Nov of this year. The Chinese e-commerce giant has released official statement that they will be hiring an additional 200 more employees to its workforce of more than 2,000 workers in order to subdue the increasing amount of counterfeit products being sold in their website. Additionally, the company already has more than 5,400 volunteer workers who are aiding the company in its daily scrutiny of counterfeit goods.
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Dodgy Vodka and Fake Cigs: Pirated Goods Hit UK This Festive Season
Christmas drinkers have been warned to keep a close eye on their spirits this festive season, after a batch of counterfeit vodka containing potentially deadly chemicals was found in the country’s southwest.
In Devon, Somerset and Cornwall pubs, clubs, off-licences and punters have been told to report any suspicious bottles of spirits to authorities, after counterfeit Smirnoff vodka was sold to customers in the area.
http://uk.sputniknews.com/uk/20141225/1013319257.html
Lear MoreAlibaba took down 90 million counterfeit products before its IPO
The Chinese e-commerce giant spent more than $160 million in the last two years to fight fakes, a top executive says. (Bloomberg) — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which faced scrutiny for selling counterfeit goods on its websites, said it removed 90 million listings that may have breached intellectual-property rights. The fake product listings were taken down across Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms through September this year, Chief Risk Officer Polo Shao said at a press conference in Hangzhou today. Alibaba, which raised a record $25 billion in an initial public offering in September, said it spent $160.7 million from the beginning of 2013 through last month to block counterfeit products and boost consumer protection.
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Alibaba: Puts More in Cracking down on Fake Products
Alibaba revealed investment surpassing CNY 1 billion in cracking down on fake products and protecting consumer interests from January 1, 2013 to November 30, 2014. In the first three quarters of 2014, the Chinese e-commerce service provider dealt with 6 million links to infringed products jointly with brand holders, handling more than 1000 cases relating to infringement of intellectual property in partnership with law enforcement departments, arresting nearly 400 criminals involving value approaching CNY 600 million.
http://world.einnews.com/article/241158471/dyIJ0mfjLu8w_8Jh
Lear MoreAlibaba sinks $161M into nixing counterfeits over two years
Over the last two years, China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has spent well over $100 million ridding its listings of counterfeit items.Between January 2013 and November 2014, Alibaba spent 1 billion yuan (about $161 million) removing counterfeit items from the company’s e-commerce listings, the China-based company announced Tuesday. In total, over 90 million items have been removed from its group of e-commerce sites.
http://www.cnet.com/news/alibaba-has-spent-161m-scrubbing-counterfeits-in-two-years/
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How To Guard Against China Counterfeiting
If you sell or outsource your products to China, you should anticipate infringement of your trademarks, copyrights, patents, or trade secrets and you should have an anti-counterfeiting plan in place before that happens. Any company looking to do business in China or even with China must first figure out how to protect its intellectual property rights. Trademarks, patents, and industrial designs must be registered in China to be protected in China. Copyrights do not need to be registered in China to be protected in China, but registration makes it easier to prove copyright ownership in any dispute.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/danharris/2014/12/22/how-to-guard-against-china-counterfeiting/
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