Six people were arrested and fake goods worth £250,000 were seized as police swooped on a Glasgow market on Saturday
Officers from London Road police station led the joint operation targeting sellers of counterfeit goods at the Barras market in the city’s east end.Among the items seized were clothing and bags bearing brand names including Adidas, Armani, Calvin Klein, Jimmy Choo and Louis Vuitton, police said. DVDs, cigarettes, perfumes and jewellery were also taken in evidence.Five men and one woman have been arrested in connection with alleged offences under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. Police will now pursue restraining their assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act.Detective Inspector Allan Burton said: “The sale of counterfeit goods is estimated to cost the economy over £10m a year in Scotland.”Strathclyde Police actively target those involved in serious and organised crime and by working together with our partner agencies, we can successfully disrupt those involved in illegal activities. Selling counterfeit goods is not only a crime, but often controlled by organised crime networks as a means of funding their activities.”We will continue to focus on such groups and would urge anyone with information on those involved in the counterfeit trade to contact their local police office or Crimestoppers in the strictest confidence.”
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Counterfeit booze seized in Wycombe
Trading standards officers swooped on 18 shops across Buckinghamshire and seized counterfeit and ‘grey import’ alcohol from four of them. Their action was part of a joint operation with 10 other local authorities in south east England, that targeted 246 shops. Seizures were made at 19 shops overall. One of the shops where the booze was seized was in High Wycombe. Officers have this week issued a warning to festive season shoppers to be alert to counterfeit alcohol on the market. Gina Green, Buckinghamshire County Council Trading Standards Team Leader, said: “Bootleg booze makers usually add methanol because it’s clear and odourless. But after a few hours it can induce severe stomach ache, dizziness, blurred vision, breathing difficulties, and coma. What’s more, these concoctions are often created in very unhygienic conditions.”Gina said that although it is not easy for people to identify counterfeits on the shelves, once opened the smell or taste could give it away. With ‘grey imports’, customers should look for wonky labels and tell-tale excess glue, and also compare the fill levels of bottles on the shelf.Martin Phillips, cabinet member for community engagement, said: “We need to be particularly vigilant around the festive season and I have the greatest confidence in our Trading Standards teams who act speedily in their fight against counterfeits that could be dangerous to our residents.”Shops from which the bottles of counterfeit Champagne, vodka and wine were seized were in Denham, High Wycombe and Buckingham. Gina said her team was advising traders to ensure they ordered stock from trustworthy sources.
http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/10123092.Counterfeit_booze_seized_in_Wycombe/?ref=rss
Lear MoreSuspected fake designer goods seized
A haul of suspected fake designer accessories has been removed from sale from two premises in Chelmsley Wood thanks to a joint operation between Solihull Council’s Trading Standards and the Police.More than 100 items including Dr Dre branded headphones, Gucci watches, Louis Vuitton belts, iPhone and iPad covers and Ugg hat and scarf sets were confiscated onThursday 20 December following complaints from the public.A sample of the goods will now go to each trademark holder to confirm whether they are counterfeit.Leader of the Council, Councillor Ken Meeson said: “It may be easy to think that selling counterfeit goods is a victimless crime that only affects big global companies. This is not the case. Local jobs and businesses rely on selling genuine products. Not only that, but the people who buy counterfeit goods normally find that the product is substandard and they may also be unwittingly helping to finance wider organised crime.”Acting Sergeant Steph Rolfe added: “We hope this operation reassures shoppers and legitimate traders that we are working to protect them by disrupting people who trade illegally.”We’d like to thank the public who originally raised these concerns and encourage people to continue to contact us with information about those involved in criminal activity.”
Lear MoreNCIPR Lauds Customs Feat On Pirated And Counterfeit Catch
For the period from January 1 to November 30, 2012, the Bureau of Customs seized pirated and counterfeit goods amounting to P1,100,000,000.00 which is considered as one of the highest amount of seized bogus items.This was declared by Atty. Ricardo R. Blancaflor, Director General for the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR), as he congratulated Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon in a letter dated December 13, 2012.Blancaflor stated in his letter that “the performance of BOC as of November 30, 2012 is 22.05% of the total confiscation of the NCIPR (P4,988,645,292.00). In this regard, we would like to commend the officials and personnel of the Intellectual Property Unit of the Bureau of Customs (IPU-BOC) for this excellent performance.”The Bureau of Customs according to Blancaflor has one of the highest seizures of pirated and counterfeit goods among the law enforcement agencies under the NCIPR.“We believe that their performance should merit a distinction from the Bureau,” the NCIPR Director General added.Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon is elated by the performance of the IPU-BOC headed by Atty. Zsae de Guzman, but at the same time cautioning them to double their efforts in their vigilant watch as counterfeiters double their momentum on pirated goods even for a slight observance in a lull in the enforcement operations.Biazon also stated that this performance was the result of strengthening its border control as well as the operation conducted on warehouses that are known to store high-end counterfeit goods such as Louie Vuitton, Gucci, Prada and the luxury brands.
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Fake phones getting less popular in China
Cheap mobile phones that closely resemble high-end globally-recognised devices are slowly fading out from markets across China, and are being replaced by brands looking to break into the budget phone market.In south China’s Shenzhen city, known as the “birthplace of counterfeit phones”, shops with “for rent” signs can be seen everywhere, the China Daily reported Monday.Although the city has long been known as one of the country’s top sellers of electronic products, government data indicates that more than 3,500 shops, most of which were mobile phone dealers, have closed and retreated from the market.This year’s Canton Fair, the country’s largest small commodities expo held in Guangzhou, featured a small number of counterfeit phones, an “unthinkable occurrence in previous years”.Industry experts said manufacturers of counterfeit phone do not have the technological know-how to compete with global brands like Apple and amsung.However, domestic brands have made breakthroughs that have allowed them to offer inexpensive smartphones, thus cutting into the counterfeit phone market.Among the 10 biggest phone manufacturers in China last year, domestic brands ZTE, Huawei and TCL were ranked third, fifth and ninth respectively, in terms of smartphone ales.Domestic smartphones cost less than 1,000 yuan ($160).Tang Ruijin, director of the Shenzhen Federation of Mobile Communication, said counterfeit manufacturers have retreated to underdeveloped overseas markets like southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa.At this year’s Mobile World Congress, Huawei unveiled a quad-core mobile phone processor. Huawei is one of few companies that develops its own computer chips, while many foreign brands still use Intel chips.
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/fake-phones-getting-less-popular-in-china-306373
Lear MoreRCMP seizes $17,000 in counterfeit merchandise, deliver warnings
RCMP are reminding holiday shoppers to avoid fake merchandise after seizing more than $17,000 worth of counterfeit products from three Regina businesses. Within the last two weeks, Regina Border Integrity Sectionconfiscated 561 counterfeit cellphone accessories and 273 electrical products from different businesses. All electricalproducts and batteries in Canada must meet specific standards are regulated by a third party certification.RCMP Regina Border Integrity Section Constable Fabian Folksays the four businesses they searched, three in which they confiscated counterfeit goods, are first-time offenders and were delivered counterfeit notification letters and electrical inspection notification letters as warnings.“The individuals that we dealt with, they were unknowingly selling the counterfeit goods and electrical goods. They worked with us right from the first time we met with them… the individuals that are clearly selling it in contravention of either act, those are the instances where we will definitely be pursuing charges,” saidFolk. If the businesses are caught selling counterfeit items again, RCMP say they will be charged and can be fined up to $1 million under the copyright act and $10,000 a day under the electrical inspection act. Last year, the RCMP seized more than $67.5 million worth of counterfeit merchandise from 876 investigations. Spot the counterfeit – the four “P”In the midst of the holiday shopping season, RCMP has given guidelines about how to avoid buying counterfeit items: Price. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Packaging.Poor quality graphics, spelling mistakes and various brands being sold in the same packaging are tip offs to counterfeit merchandise. Products.If its normally sold in a package and being sold individually, missing labels or thename brand or certification is misspelled, the product is most likely poorly made. Place. Manufacturers are usually particular about where their products are sold and how they are displayed. If it doesn’t fit in with the surrounding, it might be counterfeit. What’s the harm since counterfeit products are not subject to testing or safety standard, the RCMP say they can be a safety and health risk. For example, unregulated electrical products can explode or cause fires and cosmetics and perfumes may contain unknown chemicals which can cause skin reactions/allergies. RCMP says they have seized items such as toothpaste, pharmaceuticals, cell phone batteries and accessories, as well ashockey helmets, car parts andrazor blades.
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Blaina man fined £1000 over fake retro footy shirts
A Businessman was fined £1,000 for selling counterfeit sports gear on a popular website. Andrew Jones, 41, who trades online at retrofootyshirt.com was convicted following a trading standards investigation after a complaint from sport manufacturer Umbro. Abergavenny Magistrates Court heard on Monday how Umbro representatives purchased a counterfeit New York Cosmos shirt from Jones, of The Glade, Wyllie, Blackwood. They later met and Jones agreed to supply 150 of the shirts for £11 each and claimed he had a manufacturing unit around 40 miles away.Further test purchases were made by trading standards and a search at Jones’ business unit at Rising Sun Industrial Estate, Blaina, and home resulted in both counterfeit and genuine shirts being seized.Further investigations into the content of Jones website revealed a list of misleading and incorrect claims including that he had an on-site production unit, was an official stockist of Lacoste and Adidas products, worked closely with leading kit suppliers and clubs and had 20 years experience in the sporting industries.Jones pleaded guilty to seven offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994 and one charge under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.Llyr Williams, defending, said Jones was of previous clean character and may have overstepped the mark in the way he described his business in a bid to make it look bigger than it was.He said Jones had now followed guidance given to him by trading standards and amended his website and trading practices.As well as the fine, he was ordered to pay £1,500 prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of £15.A Blaenau Gwent council spokeswoman said the sale of counterfeit goods, which are usually of substandard quality, was damaging to local traders who are finding it difficult enough in the current economic climate.
Lear MoreCompany in soup for making fake chocolate
Lasudia policeregistered acase against a chocolate companyfor manufacturingduplicate branded chocolateshere on Wednesday. Local Kemko Company has been booked under the Copyright Act for manufacturing duplicate chocolate. TI of Lasudia police station, Azim Khan said early on Wednesday morning, that they received a complaint from Anil Tiwari, who was representing a multinational chocolate company against a local company for manufacturing duplicate product.Following the complaint, a team of police personnel, along with official of food and drug department, were sent to Dewas Naka. The team raided the local company. “During raid we have seized huge amount of duplicate products of Centre Fresh and other popular brands and huge amount of raw material from the company,” Khan said adding that when team reached the spot, several people were working in the company. Later it was found that company was functioning for the last two years. They had been changing the spellings of the brand names on the wrapper to confuse the customers. The rest of the details on the wrapper were kept intact as the original brand.All the material in the company has been seized and company was seal. Sample of the seized items have been sent to lab for testing. Police said after receiving report from the lab, cases will be registered against company owner.
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Record seizure of counterfeit watches valued at almost $100 million
The load of phony watches that sharp-eyed U.S. border agents discovered in a truck at a border crossing near Laredo, TX was worth $83 million, making it the largest such seizure in the crossing’s history, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In October, the Import Specialist Enforcement Team (ISET) at U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Laredo port of entry seized the commercial shipment of 7,800 counterfeit Audemars Piguet trademarked watches. The seizure was recently finalized, according to the agency in a Dec. 12 statement. The significant seizure was the second involving the same trademark in less than six months, it said that the knock-off timepieces were detected after a CBP import specialist at World Trade Bridge selected a shipment of watches arriving via express consignment truck for a secondary examination. In the course of that secondary examination, CBP officers and import specialists discovered possible infringement of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Octagonal Bezel Design trademark, which is a trademark recorded with CBP. After a legal review from CBP Headquarters Intellectual Property Rights Branch and confirmation from Audemars Piguet that the use of their trademark was unauthorized, CBP determined on Oct. 25 that the watches infringed on the Audemars Piguet design trademark and seized them. The total manufacturer’s suggested retail price, had the Audemars Piguet design trademark been genuine, was $83 million, said CBP. “This seizure of $83 million in counterfeit watches is now the largest in port history and is the second multimillion dollar seizure involving the same Audemars Piguet design trademark in less than six months,” said Sidney Aki, CBP port director, Laredo Port of Entry. “As we approach the Christmas holidays, seizures like these help reassure both the trade community and the public that CBP remains committed to ensuring that recorded trademarks are protected and the American consumer is protected from counterfeit merchandise.”
http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/28032?c=border_security
Lear MoreIndia seized fake seeds worth $750,000 in 2012
India says it has seized fake seeds worth more than $750,000 this year, making 25 arrests in the process.The figures come weeks after agricultural experts called for the Pakistani government to clamp down on fake seeds and suggest the problem stretches across the region. In India, seizures of fake seeds were concentrated in Andhra Pradesh, the Minister of State for Agriculture said.Responding to questions in parliament, the Minister said 56,700kg of fake or substandard seeds were seized in 2012, leading to 18 dealers having their licenses revoked. The Indian government is now trying to tackle the problem by investing in the seed industry.”Assistance is provided for strengthening and modernising seed infrastructure facilities in public as well as private sector,” Minister Tariq Anwar said. Money is also being spent to create a seed bank that can stop farmers resorting to planting substandard seeds in emergencies.
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