Dubai Economy seizes over 3 million pieces of counterfeit goods within a week

Monday 27 March 2017

Dubai - MENA Herald: Over three million counterfeit products of more than 30 renowned brands were confiscated in Dubai within a week after Dubai Economy raided four warehouses in the emirate as part of its strategic focus on protecting intellectual property as well as the rights of trademark owners and consumers. One of the warehouses had a stock of over one million pieces of counterfeit products, including phone accessories, ladies handbags, clothes, leather goods, inks, printers, cosmetics, watches and contact lenses. Around 928,000 items including duplicate phones and accessories were seized from the second warehouse while the third had over 700,000 imitations of five international perfume brands and the fourth was found to have stocked 252,000 pieces of counterfeit perfumes, cosmetics and cleaning products. Ibrahim Bahzad, Director of Intellectual Property Rights Protection in the Commercial Compliance & Consumer Protection (CCCP) sector in Dubai Economy said his team took 14 days to investigate and decide on the next step after receiving information on the counterfeits stocked in the warehouse. The raids reaffirm the role of the Intellectual Property Rights Protection team in protecting trademarks against any infringement, he added. “Dubai Economy is committed to translate the directives and vision of the Government of Dubai to promote economic activity. Combatting commercial fraud and protecting goods and services against duplicating their brand or logo are part of the strategic objective of Dubai Economy to improve confidence among businesses and investors, and enhance overall competitiveness in Dubai,” Behzad said, adding that the raid took more than 48 hours as the officials diligently screened and sorted each piece to ensure transparency and impartiality in the process. “People promoting and selling counterfeits use innovative tricks. Some of them import the goods in pieces and then assemble it here, and they even use remote or misleading locations to stock such goods. We work closely with global brands to train our inspectors in identifying counterfeits and we update trademark owners on local developments in combatting counterfeiting,” Behzad said. The Intellectual Property Protection team holds regular meetings with major international brands to share knowledge and experiences in the fight against counterfeits. Co-operation of other competent government entities is also sought in carrying out inspections. Behzad urged consumers not to be swayed by unscrupulous traders trying to peddle counterfeit goods or services. Consumers can report any suspicious activity to Ahlan Dubai on the number 600 54 5555, twitter handle @Dubai_consumers or on the email consumerrights@dubaided.gov.ae

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