Topic: Anti-counterfeiting

The Russian law enforcement agencies have raided a chandelier plant, terminating the production of counterfeit Swarovski products. The plant was being run by an underground cartel that employed about 40 workers who made chandeliers with poor-quality metal and Turkish crystals, and then branded them with the famous SWAROVSKI trademark.

08 July 2003

In <i>Cartier International v Liu</i>, a US district court has ordered five individuals to pay the plaintiff treble damages for contempt of an earlier, preliminary injunction which had instructed them to cease dealing in counterfeit merchandise. The damage award of $4.8 million is one of the largest contempt judgments ever issued in a case of this nature.

26 June 2003

In <i>Louis Vuitton Distribuição Ltda v Caliente Comércio de Modas</i>, a panel of the Superior Court of Justice has ordered the defendant, a vendor of counterfeit LOUIS VUITTON merchandise, to pay the plaintiff both economic and moral damages - the total amount to be determined by the lower court.

30 May 2003

The Court of Campobasso has confirmed its pre-trial decision granting Honda a preliminary injunction prohibiting the distribution in Italy of engines and generators manufactured by Wuxi Worldbest Kama Machinery. The court held that although the products carried different marks to those manufactured by Honda, they were counterfeits or "slavish imitations" of its goods.

12 May 2003

In <i>Sony Computer Entertainment Inc v Lee</i>, the High Court of Kuala Lumpur has issued, as part of a summary judgment against the defendant, a permanent injunction preventing him from further infringing the plaintiff's trademark. In granting the injunction, the court held that the fact that the defendant had already ceased the infringing activity was irrelevant.

08 April 2003

The European Commission has published its proposed Council Regulation setting out new rules for customs action against counterfeit and pirated goods. The new legislation will give more power to customs authorities and simplify the procedure to have counterfeits destroyed.

24 March 2003

The Trade Descriptions (Original Label) Order 2002 has come into force. It requires that original copyrighted and trademarked products bear an 'original' label and aims to protect the makers of compact disks, video cassettes and similar goods from pirates and counterfeiters.

20 March 2003

In <i>Sliney v London Borough of Havering</i>, the Court of Appeal has held that, in cases involving a criminal charge of unauthorized trademark use, a defendant relying on the defence in Section 92(5) of the Trademarks Act (ie, that he did not believe such use to be an infringement) is under a legal, rather than evidential, burden to prove that the defence is made out.

07 March 2003

The Court of Appeal has ruled for the first time that a producer of goods seized under suspicion of being counterfeits is entitled to damages if it is able to prove that the trade description order, issued pursuant to Section 16 of the Malaysian Trade Descriptions Act, was unjustified.

27 February 2003

The Supreme Court has allowed an action against two shipping agents to have counterfeit goods destroyed even though the agents were not found guilty of trademark infringement. The court held that allowing the action was necessary in order to comply with the principles of EU counterfeiting legislation.

24 February 2003