British man on trial over counterfeit toiletries

The Standard (Hong Kong) ^ | Wednesday, September 07, 2005

[jwalburg]

A British citizen has gone on trial alongside five Chinese accomplices accused of producing and selling counterfeit name brand shampoos and other toiletries, a Shanghai court official and newspapers reported Tuesday.

Suraj Jagtiani, whose hometown wasn't given, went on trial Monday at the Shanghai No1 Intermediate People's Court, said a court official.

No date for sentencing has been set and no details of the case could be released, said the unnamed official. Such trials usually last just one day.

However, the Shanghai Daily said Jagtiani and the others produced more than two million yuan (HK$1.92 million) worth of bogus goods in a year.

The group packaged and sold the phony products as Johnson & Johnson's Johnson's Baby Oil, German company Beiersdorf's Nivea skin cream, and Procter & Gamble's Head and Shoulders shampoo, the paper said.

It wasn't known how or when the gang was caught or what punishments they might receive.

Prosecutors allege Jagtiani met co- defendants Li Xuyao and Yao Fei last year at a trade show in Guangdong province, Shanghai Daily said.

Jagtiani, who the paper said ran a Hong Kong-based trading company, provided sample products and funds to the couple, who rented workshops and hired workers in Shanghai's Pudong district. The products were then shipped to overseas distributors, including in the United States, Britain and the Netherlands, the paper said.

The Shanghai Daily quoted Jagtiani as saying he originally didn't realize the products he was selling were fake. When he found out and informed his overseas clients, they allegedly told him they had no problem accepting the counterfeits, the report said.

The case is the second in Shanghai in a matter of months involving foreigners exploiting China's lax enforcement of intellectual property protections. In April, the Shanghai court sentenced an American man to 2 years in prison for selling pirated DVDs on the Internet.

[jwalburg]

From DVDs to dandruff shampoo. I knew there had to be a reason the Head and Shoulders wasn't working! What next?

[WestVirginiaRebel]

If you can't trust your soap, what can you trust?

[cripplecreek]

Ain't nuthin worse than counterfeit crappery.

[sockmonkey]

Actually, I've been buying Yardley stuff for so cheap at the Dollar Tree, I wondered if it was counterfeit or not. Sure hope the anti-bacterial soap is really anti-bacterial.

[operation clinton cleanup]

I spoke with a P&G Corporate Security person recently and was told factories in China producing P&G labeled products pop up as fast as they can shut them down. By the time the supply of counterfeit products are tracked down, the owners are long gone. Chinese authorities are no help.

[steveegg]

From DVDs to dandruff shampoo. I knew there had to be a reason the Head and Shoulders wasn't working! What next?

A class from the Mods on what is and isn't considered breaking news?

[Squantos]

Girl Friday's gonna be pissed when she discovers her counterfeit Nair is really Miracle Grow.......I better go tune up the weed eater again......

[fhayek]

I sure hope no one starts selling counterfeit phrasebooks.

[cyborg]

LOL!

[linkinpunk]

Shouldn't this be in the Activism Sidebar?

[patton]

LOLOL

[RDTF]

I saw on the news last night that cops around the country are donating all the counterfeit designer clothes (mostly from China) that they have been holding in evidence for years to the victims.