Dubai and Ajman police authorities seize 6,200 counterfeit toners
Brother International (Gulf) FZE has lauded the successful joint operation with enforcement authorities from Dubai and Ajman that raided a warehouse in Ajman, which resulted in the seizure of more than 6,200 counterfeit ‘Brother’ toner cartridges and other consumables , Based on accounts by company officials, Brother International was tipped off few traders that were selling counterfeit ‘Brother’ toners in Dubai. This vital information was relayed to authorities inUAE, which resulted in successful raids. The raided companies admitted that the seized counterfeit toners were supplied by another Dubai trader who kept the pirated products in a warehouse in Ajman. With the help of the authority in Ajman the warehouse of the counterfeit toners were revealed and raided.
Lear MorePolice seize fake Nike, Apple products in flea market raid
Baltimore County police raided the North Point Plaza Flea Market in Dundalk looking for counterfeit items, police say.Around 10 a.m. Saturday detectives began serving search warrants on 16 vendors believed to be selling fake products in the popular Dundalk flea market located in the 2400 block of Old North Point Boulevard. Police say the raid, dubbed “Operation Flea Collar” is the result of an investigation following numerous complaints of counterfeit products being by private vendors at the market. Baltimore County detectives have been working with the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America and trademark representatives for major brand names to gather evidence in the investigation. The vendors are alleged to have sold fakes of trendy brand names such as Ugg, Nike, Apple, North Face, Timberland, Polo and bootleg music and movies to undercover detectives. While the search warrants were being served, detectives shut down the flea market to make sure that the vendors involved remained at the scene and that no evidence was removed prior to seizure by detectives. The investigation into these vendors is ongoing. The seized merchandise will be evaluated by trademark experts, and charges are pending against vendors found to be selling counterfeit items.
Lear MoreThe Punjab Agriculture Department has confiscated fake pesticides worth over Rs 13.2 million
The Punjab Agriculture Department has confiscated fake pesticides worth over Rs 13.2 million from Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and Sahiwal Division during a campaign against fake agricultural inputs. This was disclosed by Additional Secretary (Task Force) Punjab Agriculture Department Bilal Ahmad Butt while speaking at a meeting convened to review the efforts against fake pesticides. The meeting was held in the Central Cotton Research Institute, Multan said a spokesman of the department here on Thursday. Director Pest Warning Malik Fayyaz Ahmad while briefing the meeting said that the department collected 3937 samples of pesticides during the campaign from these four divisions of which 96 samples were found substandard and 138 cases were registered. Additional Secretary Task Force directed the pesticide inspectors to make the campaign more effective and collect samples from each dealer besides collecting samples on the basis of intelligence reports. He said that samples should be collected from every importer and distributor without any discrimination and sent to the laboratories for analysis. He disclosed that the Punjab government was taking steps to increase the laboratories for analysis of pesticides to ensure provision of quality products to the growers. The meeting was also attended by Director Central Cotton Research Institute Bagh Muhammad, Director Pest Warning Multan and pesticide inspectors of the above mentioned four divisions
Lear MoreUS experts get tough on fake medicines
Health experts are urging the United States and other countries to boost their ability to identify fake or subpar medicines and close loopholes that allow products to be falsified or diluted.In an international system in which different companies in many countries make ingredients for single treatments, no country alone can effectively enforce quality control on drugs that can be the fine line between life and death, stressed a report by the independent Institute of Medicine (IOM).”Falsified and substandard medicines are a grave public health problem because they are ineffective, promote drug resistance, and even cause severe illness and death, particularly in developing countries where they regularly flood the market,” said Lawrence Gostin, health law expert at Georgetown University Law Center who led the group of 12 experts who did the study.”We’re calling on WHO, in collaboration with regulators, companies, and civil society worldwide, to adopt a global code of practice, build national regulatory capabilities, and promote international cooperation,” Gostin said.Fake versions of the cancer drug Avastin were given to US patients in 2011 and 2012, for example, but similar problems occur even more frequently in poor countries, the committee found. Avastatin is made by Switzerland’s Roche.”Given the international nature of modern manufacturing and trade, every nation has a stake and a role to play in ensuring the production and sale of high-quality medications,” said Gostin, who is director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center on Public Health Law and Human Rights.Counterfeit and substandard medications with little or no active ingredients can hasten drug resistance, do not treat disease, and boost health care costs. In addition, products that contain dangerous ingredients have sickened and killed people around the world, the report explains.It urges the WHO to increase its cooperation with regulators worldwide.”What we’re seeing in the United States – and doubly so in developing countries – is a race to the bottom,” Gostin said. “Unscrupulous drug suppliers seek the state or country with the weakest regulatory and law enforcement standards. We need to encourage a status competition for the finest regulatory oversight.”So the report urges a mandatory drug tracking system.US “agreement on a federally mandated tracking system has been slowed by costs associated with changing drugs’ primary packaging and labels as well as wholesale repackaging, the report found. “Without a national system, however, companies face the burden of meeting competing state demands. For example, California will require unique serial numbers on bottles and vials by 2015,” it said.The report also urges adoption of the terms “substandard” and “falsified” to refer to products that pose a public health risk, asking parties to refrain from using the term “counterfeit” except in trademark infringement cases.”Consistent use of terms would improve nations’ abilities to document the extent of the problem, determine causes, and discuss possible solutions,” it added.
Lear MoreSurge in cases of fake drugs; whistleblower plan draws a blank
New Delhi: In a worrying trend, there has been an increase in cases of fake drugs in last three years and efforts by authorities to encourage whistle-blowers to report such illegal activity too have failed to elicit the desired response.Of the total of 345 cases of spurious or fake drugs reported between 2009-12 by Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), 117 were in 2009-10, 95 in 2010-11 and 133 in 2011-12, according to information provided by Health Ministry in response to an RTI query. The CDSCO has tested about 1.37 lakh drug samples in the last three years. Of these, 6,500 samples were declared of sub-standard quality other than 345 cases of fake drugs. The Health Ministry has launched prosecution in 516 cases against various persons for manufacturing, sale and distribution of spurious or adulterated drugs during the period. As many as 345 persons were arrested for selling and manufacturing fake drugs, it said. During 2009-10, a total of 39,248 drug samples were tested and 1,942 were found to be of inferior quality. The central health authorities have launched prosecution in 138 cases and arrested 173 persons during the year. Whereas in 2010-11, about 49,682 drugs samples were tested and 2,372 of them were found to be of sub-standard quality. Authorities have launched prosecution in 167 cases in which 72 persons were arrested, the reply said. A total of 48,082 drugs samples were tested in 2011-12, in which 2,186 were found to be below the standard. The Health Ministry authorities initiated prosecution in 211 cases in which 141 persons were arrested. A whistle blower scheme was launched by the Ministry in August 2009 to reward any individual who gives information related to fake drugs but all the complaints were found to be false. “There were 37 complaints received under the whistle blower scheme by this organisation. The complaints were investigated by the concerned State Drug Controlling Authorities, CDSCO and in certain cases both the authorities had jointly investigated the complaints. “However, the complaints were found to be fictitious and no person has been awarded under this scheme till date,” the Directorate General of Health Services said in reply to the RTI query filed by PTI. The whistle blower scheme was launched by the government to encourage vigilant public participation in the detection of movement of spurious drugs in the country.
Lear MoreAlleged Photos of Apple’s iPhone 5S Are Fake
Photos of what are allegedly Apple’siPhone 5Sassembly line were recently leaked. As always, it’s hard to tell if these images are legitimate or not, but9to5Macoriginally suggested that the photos could be showing us a new iPhone 5S with a few tweaked internals. Turns out the images might not only be fake, but they might actually be parts of a knockoff iPhone 5.MacRumorssays that it’s fairly certain the leaked parts are of an iPhone 5 clone, a fake version of the iPhone 5 that’s likely sold as a cheap knockoff, and that it’s most certainly not the iPhone 5S. The site noticed that the battery is smaller than the iPhone 5, there’s a microSD card slot, there’s a connector that doesn’t resemble the new Lightning port and there are “loose red and black wires.”We imagine that the iPhone 5S will resemble the iPhone 5, as the photos above do, but apparently these aren’t the real deal.
http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/02/11/iphone-5s-assembly-line-gallery-photos/
Lear MoreBarring the way of fake drugs
In order to highlight the magnitude of illicit trade activities such as counterfeiting and smuggling, FICCI CASCADE organized a press conference, preceding the seminar, on ‘Illicit Trade – A Threat to our National Interest’ on October 15th, 2015 in Hyderabad. Mr. Ravi Verma (IPS), Deputy Inspector General of Police, Telangana was the key speaker at the press conference. Mr. Verma stated that the magnitude of counterfeiting and smuggling was significant and was affecting India’s growth trajectory. He said that information sharing between the stakeholders was very important to contain the menace. In this regard, he observed that developing a list of regular offenders across the country and sharing of this data by the police departments across the states would be an effective step.
Lear MoreFake and Counterfeit Mobile Phones Sold Around the World
A report by the Mobile Manufacturers Forum reported that 125 million substandard and counterfeit mobile phones were sold around the world in 2011. In 2012, the number of counterfeit phones sold increased to 148 million units. The estimated amount for 2013 was projected to be 1.86 million units. Thus, up to 8 percent of all mobile devices sold worldwide in 2013 were substandard or counterfeits. Over 20 percent of mobile phones sold in India is estimated to be counterfeits, according to the report. Many of the counterfeit phones sold in the India that were made in China were found to have high levels of lead. This is similar to a study conducted by researchers in Brazil who found that the five counterfeit phones that they tested all had lead and cadmium levels that were higher than EU regulations. In Libya, up to 80 percent of the mobile phones for sale in the country were smuggled into the country and sold on the black market.
http://www.havocscope.com/fake-and-counterfeit-mobile-phones-sold-around-the-world/
Lear MoreAB SKF : Swedish court rules for criminal conviction in SKF counterfeit court case
Trademark infringement results in jail term
A Swedish court has sentenced one person to a one-year jail term and a five-year ban from trade, and awarded damages to SKF, after finding him guilty of violation of Swedish trademark law in relation to the SKF trademark. The court found that he intentionally purchased counterfeit SKF products. The products were thereafter sold with a high profit margin to unknowing customers.The criminal and civil court case was the result of a police raid in March 2010 of stores in Stockholm and Avesta (located in the central parts of Sweden) where the police found thousands of counterfeit SKF products. SKF cooperated with the police in the identification of the counterfeit bearings.Counterfeit SKF products are non-SKF products illegally marked with the SKF trademark and packed in SKF-like packaging. Counterfeit industrial products like bearings can considerably reduce the service life of machinery and in the worst case endanger human lives. SKF is actively cooperating with law enforcement authorities around the world to facilitate legal measures against those involved in the trade of SKF counterfeit products.
Gothenburg, 4 February, 2013
Aktiebolaget SKF (publ)
SKF is a leading global supplier of bearings, seals, mechatronics, lubrication systems, and services which include technical support, maintenance and reliability services, engineering consulting and training. SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 15,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2012 were SEK 64,575 million and the number of employees was 46,775.
Lear MoreKenya loses Sh70bn in counterfeit trade
Trade in counterfeits has grown into a Sh70 billion annual business, rivalling key foreign exchange earners like tourism, tea and horticulture.The Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA) said Monday the most affected items were medicinal drugs, electronics, CDs and pirated software, alcoholic drinks, mobile phones and farm inputs.“The tragedy of the counterfeiting story is that it is an underworld crime that leads to crime advancement,” ACA Chief Executive Officer Stephen Mallowah said during the launch of phase three of its public awareness campaign dubbed “Fagia Bandia”.
The campaign which is conducted in collaboration with US, Britain, India, France and the EAC Member states, seeks to enlighten enforcement agencies like the police, judicial staff and custom officials to lead the fight against counterfeits.It is backed by private sector lobby groups such as Kenya Association of Manufactures (KAM), Kenya Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (KAPI) and Agrochemicals Association of Kenya (AAK).Unilever, East African Cables, British American Tobacco (BAT), Toyota East Africa, Brazafric Enterprises (Kenya), Nokia East Africa, Samsung, HP, Sollatek (Kenya), East African Breweries Limited (EABL), and SCJohnsons are among the firms supporting the campaign.US embassy officials said American firms – just like Kenyan companies – had suffered from production and circulation of fake goods in the region.“Kenya has a potential of becoming a great destination for investment. We believe we have picked the right team to help us win the war against counterfeits,” said US Deputy Chief of Mission Isaiah Parnell.ACA said it had processed 177 complaints since 2010, successfully prosecuting 47 cases worth over Sh650 million.But even as the agency launches its campaign to rid the market of counterfeits, Kenya’s investment profile is still fraught with reputational risk.A recent KPMG Fraud Barometer survey which found that African countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and South Africa account for 74 per cent of all fraud cases reported in the continent.