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15 June 2018Trademarks

Hong Kong customs seizes $2m of fake FIFA World Cup merchandise

Hong Kong customs has seized more than HK$15 million (US $1.9 million) worth of counterfeit FIFA World Cup products in less than two months.

‘Operation Goalkeeper’ was launched on April 30 to prevent infringing items entering into Hong Kong. The operation is ongoing.

As of Wednesday, June 13, Hong Kong customs officials have seized 259,000 pieces of suspected infringing items. Five arrests have been made in relation to the alleged infringements.

Seized items include 180,000 pieces of apparel and accessories, 50,000 pairs of shoes and 29,000 bags. Of the pieces of seized apparel, 57,000 are counterfeit jerseys, with most bearing suspected forged FIFA trademarks.

The seized items came from 12 seaborne containers, four goods vehicles and a batch of air parcels.

Importing an item bearing a forged trademark into Hong Kong comes with a maximum fine of HK$500,000 and a five-year imprisonment.

Customs in Shenzen, China announced that it had seized 4,000 items of clothing that infringe the FIFA World Cup logo in April this year, according to state news outlet Xinhua.

Among the seized items are 3,000 t-shirts and 1,000 woven hats that were scheduled to be exported. Inspectors found that the items featured a substandard FIFA World Cup logo.

Customs officials notified FIFA, which confirmed that the products were not licensed.

FIFA’s senior legal counsel previously spoke to WIPR about its strategy in undertaking litigation if it believes its trademarks are being infringed.

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