The seized products (Credit: Pune Mirror)
Cartridges and toner were found at a shop in Budhwar Peth.
Pune Mirror reported on the seizure from the Shivraj Enterprises store in Budhwar Peth, with the computer and peripherals store found to be “selling fake […] products using a leading brand name”, which in this case was HP.
The goods, worth around Rs 1 lakh ($1,627/€1,302), were seized by the Enforcers of Intellectual Property Rights (EIPR) and Vishrambaug police officials, with the case the latest in a series of “large numbers” of counterfeit products in the city. The products included counterfeit HP cartridges and toners, which featured HP branding, and the “finished toner and ink cartridges” were being “sold under the HP brand”.
Another seizure a few weeks before had been conducted at “multiple electronics shops” in Sadashiv Peth and Narayan Peth, with the HP-branded goods seized in these locations worth around Rs 20 lakh ($32,559/€26,049), including “duplicate adaptors, batteries [and] counterfeit branding, MRP and barcode stickers”.
Police arrested four workers from the shop under the Copyright Act of 1957, whilst the complaint was filed by EIPR Investigative Officer Ganesh Rane, noting that the organisation “received a tip-off” about the shop “possess[ing] duplicate HP products; on that basis, the raid was conducted and the duplicate products were seized”.