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.

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/gwentnews/10110961.Blaina_man_fined___1000_over_fake_retro_footy_shirts/