http://www.ippmedia.com/ipp/guardian/2008/07/03/117699.html
Not the FCC you and I all know, but close enough...Greg Officials of the Fair Competition Commission (FCC) yesterday destroyed 500 sets of counterfeit EUROSTAR satellite dishes worth 100m/-, which were impounded at Dar es Salaam port. Speaking to journalists yesterday during the annihilation exercise, FCC Head of Anti- counterfeit Department, John Mponela, said the goods were imported by M/S Sanyou Electronics from the Republic of China and were impounded at Dar es Salaam port in November last year. Mponela said the fake satellite dishes were not property of EUROSTAR Company which is based in Dubai, but a Chinese company M/S Sanyou Electronics, which allegedly imitated the brand name and produced imitation goods. He said the manufacturer of the replica satellite dishes disappeared soon after the commodities had been seized, adding that the law stipulated that such goods must be destroyed. ``Goods which are being produced by copying the brand names of genuine products are counterfeits and must therefore be destroyed,`` he said. Mponela said the move was made possible after FCC secured a destruction order from the court soon after the importer had abandoned the impounded goods. He said they normally sought advice of the National Environment Management Council (NEMC) on the proper location for destroying such items. ``The owner of EUROSTAR brand confirmed that the goods were fake and it was in his interest that they should be destroyed,`` he said. FCC, acting pursuant to the Merchandise Trade Marks Act, has advised members of the public to beware of the flooding of counterfeit goods in the local market. ``Customers should take time to study all the products for vital information, including the manufacturer`s address and country of origin before making a decision to buy them,`` Mponela said. He added: ``Counterfeits kill and are not cheap as people think.`` The business community should desist from trading in counterfeits as FCC has stepped up its swoops and taken stern measures against the perpetrators, he said. John Laswai, a lawyer with Abenry and Company Advocates who represent EUROSTAR, said his firm had co-operated with FCC until the fake products were identified. ``The firm used to sell a lot, but demand declined all of a sudden. They started finding out the reason. We eventually realised that there were fake satellite dishes circulating in the market,`` Laswai said. He said the law directed that such items must be destroyed because they affected the sale of genuine products. Webmail Provided by Lock-Net Internet Services: www.lock-net.com ******************************* * POST TO [EMAIL PROTECTED] * ******************************* Medianews mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
