Indian Authorities fight against counterfeit face-masks manufacturers in Ludhiana and Tirupur

While the counterfeiters are taking advantage of the current pandemic and flooding the Indian markets with their latest obsession for fake branded fake masks, the law enforcement authorities and right-holders are stepping up their pursuit against such perpretators of law by conducting enforcement actions against manufacturers, predominantly based in the manufacturing hubs of the cities of Ludhiana and Tirupur, which are infamous for large scale apparel manufacturing.

A large majority of these fake goods are ineffective if not downright dangerous. Counterfeiting of Face Masks acts as a double threat to the society as apart from the element of looting public in the name of “brand” where the public is over charged, the consumers are deprived of quality and standards of protection which they would expect from a world class brand. On one hand India is battling against the fake goods industry which penetrate the markets through import route, predominantly from China. On the other hand, some unscrupulous manufacturers under the guise of “Make in India” campaign and actually thriving on “Fake in India”, which brands continue to tackle.

The issue pervades throughout the country where several popular multinational brands have initiated appropriate search & seizure actions by invoking necessary judicial intervention for catching the infringers red handed. While Tommy Hilfiger filed a case in the Delhi High Court[1] against Tirupur based manufacturers for unauthorized printing its brand-name and logos on masks, other reputed giants like Lacoste[2], Levi’s[3] and Nike[4] filed cases in Delhi District Courts under the provisions of Trademarks Act and Copyright Act against manufacturers of fake face masks in the city of Ludhiana. This raid action exposed one of the factories where fake apparels and face masks of several popular brands were detected.

The apparel manufacturing industry in Ludhiana, rattled by the raid conducted by some of the multinational corporations against infringement of their Intellectual Property Rights, reported misleading information in one of the city’s local newspapers where allegations of trap purchase were imputed against a law firm representing the brands in the civil enforcement action. The Delhi District Court has condemned such reporting and issued an Order[5] restraining any circulation of the aforesaid news report that was defamatory to the lawyers or the law firm representing the brands. The Court affirmed that there was no infirmity, perversity or illegality in execution of the said Orders for the raid conducted in Ludhiana.

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