NI business fined £10,400 for selling counterfeit children's Halloween costumes

An officer of the company was sentenced to 140 hours community service. A Forfeiture Order was granted in respect of costumes acquired by Trading Standards Service.

In a case brought by the Department for the Economy’s Trading Standards Service, Gat Fashion Ltd pleaded guilty to 15 charges under the Trade Marks Act 1994. Mr Quan Gan (55) pleaded guilty to 15 charges.

In November 2016, following a complaint, Trading Standards Officers raided premises at Springfarm Industrial Estate, Antrim, where they found large quantities of counterfeit children’s dressing up costumes.

The items were being sold online from the premises. Some 4,400 suspected items were seized and another 2,400 items were later voluntarily surrendered.

Subsequent investigations revealed that the business had arranged for the items to be manufactured on its behalf in China.

The costumes bore trademarks such as Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Mickey Mouse and Cinderella without the consent of the brand owner.

Nicholas Lane, of the Trading Standards Service, said: “Genuine licensed distributors were having to compete unfairly against this trader. Consumers would have had no reason to believe that they were buying anything other than genuine items.

"Counterfeiting harms legitimate businesses and threatens jobs. The Trading Standards Service will continue to investigate sellers of counterfeit goods and we will not hesitate to take enforcement action against any trader found to be selling fakes”.

Anyone who believes they have been sold counterfeit goods should contact Consumerline on 0300 123 6262.