Businesswoman fined KSH 3,000,000.00 or in default sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for selling counterfeit Circuit breakers
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Nairobi, 17th June 2022,
A Nairobi woman Ms. Rose Nyambura was found guilty for importing into the country counterfeit goods by a Nairobi City Court. In delivering the sentence, Hon. G. Onsaringo ordered the defendant to pay a Khs 3,000,000.00 fine or in default to serve four (4) years in prison, noting that the crime she was convicted of posed a great danger to consumer health and safety.
The conviction followed an intellectual Property rights complaint filed by Ms. Veronicah Matali on behalf of Havells brand lawyers Roma Arora and Harsh Aggarwal.
ACA Inspectors acting on intelligence undertook cargo targeting and profiled the shipment from china until its destination at the Kenya Ports Authority Inland Container depot in Nairobi. In executing a search warrant, the inspectors seized 11,340 pieces of counterfeit Havells miniature circuit breakers worth Ksh 13,000,000.00.
Speaking after the sentencing, Ms. Matali said that, “Counterfeit circuit breakers have significant safety risks to households. They lack internal safeguards, resulting in a significant risk of fire, explosion, and danger to human life and safety.”
Ms. Matali added that whilst Havells is an internationally consumed brand, their manufacturing factory is in India and not China. “The counterfeit versions are manufactured in china and shipped to other countries. They are sometimes covering the trademarks, or concealing the consignments so that a quick inspection of the items by customs officials would not reveal the trademark”.
Mr. Martin Luther, the Nairobi Region Head of Inspections said that the case should serve as a warning to other venders attempting to sell or buy counterfeit products. “The Authority works closely with Intellectual Property Rights holders and their Agents and industry partners to target people dealing in importation or sale of counterfeit products”, Mr. Luther said
Selling counterfeit products in Kenya is a crime under the Anti-Counterfeit Act 2008. The law provides for a minimum fine of three times the value of goods and or a jail sentence of up to five years’ imprisonment for the offences.
