At this year’s Ambiente consumer goods fair in mid-February, investigators from the Main Customs Office in Darmstadt confiscated almost 250 alleged fakes at 37 booths. According to the customs authorities, the seized goods mainly included handles, glasses, plastic dishes, and other household items. Most of the fakes originated in China, but forgeries from India, Korea, Pakistan and the US were found too, according to the investigators. In addition to counterfeit goods, the officials also confiscated over 50 catalogs or removed sites depicting counterfeits. Offending retailers had to pay a total in security payments of around €23,800 for expected penalties and court costs.
Only a few weeks earlier, customs officials at Frankfurt’s Paperworld, the world’s leading trade show for office supplies and stationery, confiscated around 2,100 suspicious items. In addition, they collected a total of €28,500 in security payments. “Several exhibitors had to pay up to €12,000 in security payments for associated court costs and penalties”, says Olaf Scheffler, spokesman for the Main Customs Office in Darmstadt.
In Nuremburg, at the toys industry’s most important trade fair, and at the Green Week in Berlin, customs officials pursued a different priority: In cooperation with the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA), experts educated about the protection of intellectual property and effective cooperation with the authorities.
