Hong Kong Customs yesterday (September 17) conducted an operation against the sale of counterfeit goods at a fair held at AsiaWorld-Expo and seized suspected counterfeit jewellery.
Customs earlier received information alleging that counterfeit jewellery was displayed for sale at a booth of the Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair held at AsiaWorld-Expo.
After investigation, Customs officers conducted a test-buy operation yesterday and successfully bought two suspected counterfeit bracelets. A batch of suspected counterfeit jewellery, including 40 bracelets and four rings valued at about $3,300 in total, were also seized at the booth.
During the operation, three company directors aged between 43 and 50 were arrested.
Investigation is ongoing.
Customs attaches great importance to combating infringing activities at exhibitions and officers will be sent to different exhibitions to conduct inspections. Customs will contact the relevant trademark or copyright owner immediately to confirm the authenticity of the goods when a suspected infringing exhibit is found. Customs will take enforcement action after investigation and with the assistance of the trademark or copyright owner.
Customs will continue to take stringent enforcement action to combat infringing activities. Booth exhibitors are reminded to respect intellectual property rights and not to sell infringing goods.
Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, any person who sells, or possesses for sale, any goods with a forged trademark commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.
Members of the public may report any suspected infringing activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
Ends/Wednesday, September 18, 2019
