580,000 fake products seized in Dubai in 2011

Dubai authorities locked in a clampdown on copyrights and intellectual property violations seized a whopping 580,000 fake products in 2011 and a large part of the offences involved mobile phones.

The number last year was nearly 28 per cent higher than the 453,000 counterfeit items busted by law enforcers in the region’s business hub in 2010, according to the Dubai-based Arabic language daily Albayan.

The increase was a result of intensified raids by inspectors to ensure compliance with copyrights and intellectual property laws, it said, quoting Omar Bu Shehab, executive director of the trade control and consumer protection division at Dubai’s Department of Economic Development.

“There was also an increase of nearly 30 per cent in direct violations of trade marks in the emirate last year while we received 22 major cases from trade agencies, an increase of 47 per cent over 2010,” he said.

Bu Shehab said the offences involved mainly mobile phones and read made garments, adding that key victims of the mobile phone trade mark violations included Nokia, Sony Ericsson and I Phone.

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