R v Austin, Sidney / R v Simm, Dino

Date

22 October 2004

Legislation

Trade Marks Act 1994, s.92

Keywords

counterfeiting; DVD; sentencing

Counsel

unknown

Solicitors

Waltham Forest Trading Standards

Judge

H.H.J. Inigo Bing

Court

Snaresbrook Crown Court

Reported

The Guardian, 2 November 2004

Summary

The two defendants sold a total of 400,000 counterfeit DVD's over a period of 18 months in the Waltham Forest Area through a large network of market salesmen. Simm arranged the importation of the DVD's from Malaysia while Austin was responsible for their distribution within the UK. Approximately 10,000 counterfeit disks were found in a search on premises operated by Simm.

Over £150,000 of assets were identified by Police in a deposit box belonging to Simm in conjunction with stolen passports, fake driving licences and 10 grams of cocaine. The two defendants were estimated to have made between £1m and £3m in profit as a result of the sales.

Simm pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud, possession of a controlled drug, three counts of having custody of a false instrument, handling stolen goods and four counts of fraudulent application of a trade mark contrary to s.92 of the Trade Marks Act 1994. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment.

Decision

Austin was convicted after trial of conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to four years imprisonment.

HHJ Bing during sentencing noted that the pair were importers and distributors on a "gigantic scale"