Customs and Fiscal Service officers from the Customs Branch in Chełm had to check over 18 tons of socks that arrived in transit from China. To illustrate: this amount of goods could fill six delivery vans.
As it turned out, about 3/4 of the assortment were socks on which trademarks registered to world-famous clothing companies and fashion houses were illegally placed. Customs and Fiscal Service officers questioned the originality of almost 124 thousand pairs of socks – reports the Lublin branch of the National Revenue Administration.
Customs officers have discovered hundreds of thousands of counterfeits. Scandalously low valuation
The fact that they could be fakes was indicated by, among other things, the careless workmanship of the clothing and the way of packaging that deviated from the standards of original products – ordinary plastic bags tied with strings. The officers also noted the strikingly low unit price of the socks declared in the commercial documents – 2 cents (about 8 groszy) per pair. If the goods were actually original, they would be worth several million złoty.
Another “interesting fact” is that in most cases the model and color of the socks were the same – as if they had come from the same production line – and they differed only in the registered trademark. KAS notified the law firms representing the owners of the trademark rights about the incident, which confirmed that the seized clothing were ordinary counterfeits.
Selling counterfeits can even result in imprisonment
The owners of the registered trademarks decided to take legal action against those involved in the trade of counterfeit socks and filed applications for prosecution. The introduction of goods into circulation that violate industrial property rights is punishable by a fine, restriction of liberty or even imprisonment for up to 2 years.
The protection of intellectual property rights is one of the many tasks of the National Revenue Administration. The subject of protection are, among others, trademarks, industrial designs and patents for inventions. The inspection took place in one of the customs warehouses in Chełm, which is used to store goods imported from outside the European Union until the entrepreneur completes the necessary formalities, including paying customs and tax dues. The warehouses are subject to customs supervision.