THOUSANDS OF FAKE GOODS SEIZED DURING MULTI-AGENCY RAIDS!

As we celebrate British IP day and acknowledge the benefits derived from creativity and innovation through the use of trademarks, designs, copyright and patents we also have to acknowledge the fact that organised criminals will exploit these intellectual property (IP) rights to defraud the consumer, rip off legitimate business and use their criminal gain from IP crime to fund more sinister criminality such as drug and people trafficking, modern day slavery and money laundering.

To combat IP crime in the modern era it is imperative that public and private sector agencies work together, sharing intelligence, resource, and knowledge on all aspects of anti-counterfeiting work.

At WRi Group, whilst providing a range of services to support our clients, we really value the support that we get from our partners within Trading Standards (TS), the Police, Intellectual Property Office Intelligence Hub, Border Force, National TS teams and others, but also value our close working relationships with so called competitors from other brand protection teams.

Counterfeiters will sell any brand of counterfeit product if it makes them money. We, in turn, will work with any agency or organisation if it benefits our clients and protects their IP rights.

Last Saturday 27th June 2020 we joined forces with Ealing Trading Standards on raid actions at commercial premises in the notorious Charles House area of Southall. The action netted over 1000 counterfeit and potentially unsafe mobile phone accessories including over 600 replacement batteries.

Yesterday 30th June 2020, we joined forces with Birmingham Trading Standards and West Midlands Police on raid actions at 4 commercial retail shop premises in the Hockley area. The action focussed on intelligence previously collected by WRi Group on behalf of our clients and shared with TS. The raids netted over 15,000 counterfeit and potentially unsafe mobile phone accessories including thousands of replacement batteries, phone cases, chargers, and screens.

 

 

To ensure a positive outcome for all rights owners affected by these rogue traders we invited along our colleagues from Surelock and REACT UK. All three companies value the benefits of collaboration and work tirelessly to protect our mutual client’s reputation. Representatives from the brands themselves were also in attendance

True collaboration, as outlined above, ensures tangible outcomes, protects legitimate businesses and consumers, and brings criminals to justice.

We are grateful to Ealing and Birmingham TS, West Midlands Police and our industry colleagues for their support and professionalism over the last 4 days and look forward to working together for many years to come.

Gareth Mogg, Director at WRi Group said ‘’Intellectual Property is the cornerstone of the UK economy and is even more important as we prepare to leave the EU and face the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic’’

‘’Protecting our creators and innovators is essential to our economic stability and at WRi Group we are focussed on achieving our goal of promoting ‘a world without counterfeit goods’’

 

Happy British IP day everyone

 

To find out how WRi Group can help you protect your IP rights please contact us on  enquiries@wri-group.com or 02921 202597