Counterfeiters sentenced in blatant judgements in Denmark and Sweden
Over the last couple of years several Danish furniture and lighting manufacturers have sued a number of UK based websites, who were aggressively selling and directing their marketing towards the Danish and Swedish markets.
Besides, a couple of counterfeiters have been reported to the Danish and Swedish police, who identified and seized major stocks of replicas in Denmark, Sweden and Germany belonging to UK based sites. Several people have been arrested and taken into custody, and counterfeit design products worth millions have been seized by Police in Sweden, Germany and Denmark.
The key issue is that the Danish design products are all protected by copyright in Denmark and Sweden whereas the products are not protected in the UK due to a shorter copyright term. The majority of the replicas are manufactured in Asia – imported (legally)into the UK – and then shipped to Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
This summer the judicial systems in Denmark and Sweden sent a very clear signal:
“It is illegal to sell and direct marketing of replicas to a market, where the design furniture is protected. It makes no difference that the website distributing the products is based in a market, where the products are not protected.”
In a civil case the Danish Maritime and Commercial Court sentenced two UK-based replica sites on 20 May 2014¹. The Court decided that it is illegal to sell counterfeits from a UK site to Danish customers. The counterfeiters were also sentenced to provide compensation to the rights-holders.
In a similar criminal case investigated by the Swedish IPR Task-Force - the Court in Stockholm on 25 June 2014² sentenced a UK registered site and its CEO to 6 months imprisonment and a substantial fine of more than one million SEK and confiscation of its domain name. Moreover, the counterfeiter had to pay the Danish lighting manufacturer Louis Poulsen one million SEK in compensation for the infringements. The counterfeiter had during an 8 months-period sold a substantial number of counterfeit design lightings infringing the copyright of Louis Poulsen – to Swedish customers via the internet. It was considered an aggravated circumstance that the counterfeit lightings did not meet the security requirements as well as the correct certification for electrical
products in the European market.
In another major criminal investigation in Sweden, the IPR Task-Force raided a stock of counterfeit design furniture and lighting just outside Stockholm in April this year and seized app 3000 counterfeit items
and SEK 2,5 million in cash. This case is pending prosecution.
Danish Police is currently investigating 2 major criminal cases, where two stocks were identified in Denmark and Germany. Organized crime is involved in these cases that are both pending.
These decisions, that are also supported by recent EU case law show that organized IT criminals are sophisticated and that theft of intellectual property is not an accepted business model.
“We are very pleased that law enforcement work together across borders and achieve successful investigations to eradicate these cross-border criminals – law enforcement did a tremendous job in these
cases” - Corporate IPR Manager at Louis Poulsen Erik Lindevang Madsen said. The consumers’ safety is put at risk, which is a serious issue and besides, they risk that their products will never arrive and their
investments may be in vain. The consumer who for some reason wants to sell his replica product again, cannot sell this in Denmark or Sweden, because it is protected by copyright in those markets”, Mr. Madsen commented.