Selling counterfeit goods

emv

NB - I am not planning to do this, just trying to check the law!


Does anyone know the law around selling counterfeit or copied goods? I'm having a discussion about this - one company is well known for copying designs of products and selling them under their own label. In my mind these are copies not counterfeits as, although the design is identical, the labelling isn't from the original 'copied' company. Someone is suggesting that it's against the law to sell or buy these as they are counterfeit but I don't think that's true in this case? Morally wrong & subject to all sorts of challenges but not against the law?

soolin

emv wrote: »

NB - I am not planning to do this, just trying to check the law!


Does anyone know the law around selling counterfeit or copied goods? I'm having a discussion about this - one company is well known for copying designs of products and selling them under their own label. In my mind these are copies not counterfeits as, although the design is identical, the labelling isn't from the original 'copied' company. Someone is suggesting that it's against the law to sell or buy these as they are counterfeit but I don't think that's true in this case? Morally wrong & subject to all sorts of challenges but not against the law?

I would have thought they run a huge risk if anyone decides to report them. Can you imagine printing up Disney characters and thinking it would be OK if you sold them not as Disney's Mickey Mouse but as Soolin's Mickey Mouse.

Interestingly there was a discussion on a facebook selling page last year where legal letters have gone out to people using Lord of the Rings or Hobbit images or titles to sell anything. Apparently the owners of words or images even slightly connected with J R R Tolkein items are highly litigious.

antrobus

emv wrote: »

NB - I am not planning to do this, just trying to check the law!

Does anyone know the law around selling counterfeit or copied goods? ....

You could start with - https://www.gov.uk/intellectual-property-crime-and-infringement

As far as I'm aware, it can be both a criminal offence, as well as giving rise to the risk of civil action.

emv wrote: »

...I'm having a discussion about this - one company is well known for copying designs of products and selling them under their own label. ...

Depends on exactly what they are copying, I'd have thought.

Certain business sectors, I'm thinking of fashion here , are reasonably notorious for having 'designers' who 'design' things that are virtually identical to things that already exist.

Mistral001

I think it depends on whether the design is of an artistic nature which means that it is a grey area. Patterns, lettering fonts etc. would probably have to be different but other aspects might be up to arguing out in a courtroom.

bris

Google "passing off"

Kayalana99

If you take a Nike pair of trainers, copy them 100% in style and then resell them, yes it's breaking the law and illegal because you are not allowed to copy other peoples work (be it a pair of trainers or a line from a book) basically copy right.

Now, you could perhaps take a pair of Nike Trainers, and re design them slightly and sell them on as your own...but if Nike can basically prove you copied the original design, again they could sue you.

Oh and to add, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get in trouble for buying them, just the actual selling.

soolin

Kayalana99 wrote: »

If you take a Nike pair of trainers, copy them 100% in style and then resell them, yes it's breaking the law and illegal because you are not allowed to copy other peoples work (be it a pair of trainers or a line from a book) basically copy right.

Now, you could perhaps take a pair of Nike Trainers, and re design them slightly and sell them on as your own...but if Nike can basically prove you copied the original design, again they could sue you.

Oh and to add, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get in trouble for buying them, just the actual selling.

It is actually an offence to knowingly buy a pirated copy or fake of something.

Many years ago travellers to Italy were warned about buying fake designer handbags from street vendors and bringing them back to the UK. Apparently they would confiscated at customs and the buyer potentially prosecuted.

Mistral001

Kayalana99 wrote: »

If you take a Nike pair of trainers, copy them 100% in style and then resell them, yes it's breaking the law and illegal because you are not allowed to copy other peoples work (be it a pair of trainers or a line from a book) basically copy right.

Now, you could perhaps take a pair of Nike Trainers, and re design them slightly and sell them on as your own...but if Nike can basically prove you copied the original design, again they could sue you.

Oh and to add, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get in trouble for buying them, just the actual selling.

Copyright is automatic and you do not have to register the image, text etc with any authority for it to be protected. Whereas a design usually needs to be registered in a similar way as an invention is patented if it is to be protected. As per my above post if the item is considered artistic in some way (eg a sculpture), it will have automatic protection without registering it as far as I know.

pooch

A counterfeit is usually considered to be an almost exact copy of something (of value) made with the intention to deceive or defraud.
This could be just of design/style, rather than function. e.g. Rolex watches, counterfeits of which often have quartz movement.

So a re-branded item is unlikley to be conterfeit
(unless, for example, you were rebranding Adidas sports clothing as Adadas, etc)

However, there are other laws that need to be considered, particularly over Intellectual Property (Copyright, Trade Mark, Patent, Designs, etc)
https://www.gov.uk/intellectual-property-an-overview/overview

Some IP is automatic (e.g. Copyright) and others may need to be registered (e.g. Patents)

Mistral001

Pooch


The link you gave above is great. If you click on " types of intellectual property protection." there is good description of what is copyright and what is not. Copyright is automatic, as you say and includes "Literary works (including writing), art, photography, films, TV, music, web content, sound recordings" according to the link. So not all objects would fall under copyright, but the link also explains that there is something called a "Design right" which is also automatic . Design right protects the shape of the object, although the right is only protected for years 15 years after it was first created ( 10 years after first sold).

enfield_freddy

ok , why are there 1000s of fake/counterfeit "apple" products from china , available on ebay /amazon


ebay/amazon do nothing to stop them