Edmonds Marshall McMahon, on behalf of TM EYE Ltd, brought a successful private prosecution against the defendant, Mr Kevin Wilderspin, for offences of selling and possession of goods with a sign or the packaging of which bore a sign identical to or likely to be mistaken for a registered trade mark contrary to s.92 of the Trade Marks Act 1994.
The allegations in this case related to a number of test purchase operations carried out at car boot sales at which a number of counterfeit DVDs were purchased from the defendant. Items purchased during each of those test purchases have been confirmed as counterfeit and to contain trademarks which infringe those owned by members of the Federation Against Copyright Theft Ltd (“FACT”).
An investigator with FACT provided evidence on behalf of their members, confirming that each member holds registered trademarks which include well known logos of film production companies, such as Universal, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros.
The Defendant appeared at the Chelmsford Magistrates Court on the 8th December 2014 and pleaded guilty to the charges against her.
The magistrates proceeded to sentence the defendant. Given the number of infringements and occasions and the previous convictions for similar offences for which the defendant received a custodial sentence, the magistrates, taking into account the defendant’s guilty pleas, sentenced Mr Wilderspin to 10 week imprisonment on each of the charges to run concurrently with each other.
The magistrates also ordered forfeiture and destruction of the DVDs.
