Picture Credit: Utusan
Sometimes, fake goods can slip by the best of us, but like the saying, “Sepandai-pandai tupai melompat, akhirnya jatuh ke tanah jua,” one is bound to get caught anyway. Two days ago, The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in Negeri Sembilan released info that counterfeit Adidas goods worth over RM 170,000 was seized from a Seremban mall.
Fairly mindboggling too. Zubir Hamsa, chief enforcement officer spoke to Utusan that the raid was performed based on gathered intel from the trademark owner and intelligence excursions carried out for three days at the mall.
“The clothes and shoes were sold at a rented booth in the mall. These items were sold at about RM50 cheaper than their usual prices as the clothes were priced at RM89 while a pair of shoes cost between RM199 and RM259,” said Zubir. Moreover, it was difficult to tell between the fake and original, as to the naked eye, the level of quality is almost the same as their original counterparts with all the labels and necessary embellishments all in the right place. “Potential buyers thought that they were buying authentic Adidas goods but at a discounted price.”
The police are still in the midst of finding out who is the actual vendor as well as its source when taking a statement from the head of the mall. Under law, the case will be reviewed under the 2011 Trade Act and 1987 Copyright Act, and if found guilty, the company will be fined a maximum of RM 15,000 for every counterfeit item for first time offenders, or can be increased to RM 30,000 per item, or alternatively, the seller can get slapped with a RM 10,000 fine per item and a maximum jail period of 3 years. Just goes to show, that sometimes when it’s too good to be true, it usually is.
