Cape Town – A proprietor’s claim that poor economic conditions caused his company to produce counterfeit clothing, with the fraudulent use of trademarks belonging to Truworths, was “utter nonsense and a lie”, a court in Cape Town ruled on Friday.
Magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg added: “You are defrauding the public, and offending brands that belong to Truworths.”
Kevin van Niekerk, sole owner of the company Valotone 87CC at Observatory, near Cape Town, was given a severe dressing down when he stood in the dock at the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville.
Van Niekerk himself was not the accused, but was in the dock representing Valotone, which was cited as the accused.
The company itself was fined R200 000, entirely suspended for five years, for six violations of the Counterfeit Goods Act.
Van Niekerk himself, as the owner of the business, had already paid a R3 000 admission of guilt fine, prosecutor Denzyl Combrink told the court.
The proceedings took the form of a plea bargain, negotiated by defence advocate Christo Bischoff.
In plea bargain proceedings, the magistrate, if he or she agrees with the negotiated punishment, normally merely declares the sentence just and fair, and thus ends the proceedings.
In this matter, however, the magistrate considered the case far too serious to let it rest without first giving Van Niekerk, an unexpected but severe reprimand.
She told him: “What you did was very serious – you misrepresented to the public that you were offering quality that in fact was not quality.”
Van Niekerk pleaded guilty on behalf of the company to manufacturing clothing that fraudulently had the LTD or INWEAR trade marks, belonging to Truworths
The value of the counterfeit clothing was estimated at R200 169.
The magistrate stressed that fraudulently putting Truworths labels on clothing not made by Truworths, was both morally and legally reprehensible.
She warned Van Niekerk to “mend your ways”, and hoped that he would learn from this mistake.
According to court papers, police, assisted by Truworths’ lawyers Spoor and Fisher, swooped on the Valotone premises in March, and found a bag with counterfeit labels.
However, because the search was conducted without the necessary search warrant, the bag of labels could not be confiscated.
According to the papers, Valotone fraudulently inserted Truworths labels into garments made by Valotone, without permission.
The papers said Valotone’s financial situation was “not healthy”, and that Truworths had launched civil litigation against the company.
The civil claim was likely to force Valotone to close its doors, which would impact heavily on the staff compliment of 50, the papers said.
African News Agency