A 22-year-old has been caught “red-handed” with a number of counterfeit HP products by law enforcement officials in New Delhi.
As the Millennium Post reports, New Delhi police revealed this week that a raid conducted on a sewage pumping house near Loni Road had resulted in the discovery of “several counterfeit HP products that included printer toners and cartridges among other things.”
A 22-year-old man called Ajay Kumar was apprehended with the items.
The police “had initially filed a case based on a complaint registered by Hewlett Packard through a person holding powers of attorney in Delhi” earlier in the year.
According to DCP Atul Kumar Thakur, “upon cursory checking of the carton in possession of the accused, nine HP cartridges with different versions of HP laser jet toners” were found.
An “expert” from HP was present during the raid and confirmed that the items were counterfeit.
HP also revealed that another raid had been carried out a different property in Bhikaji Cama Place, where another arrest was made and approximately 25 counterfeit HP products were seized, though DCP Thakur “said that he cannot disclose any information about this particular raid as investigations in the case are ongoing.”
HP has accused some retailers in New Delhi of “selling spurious and counterfeit products” which use its trademark, logo and artwork in order to “dupe unaware consumers into believing” they were purchasing genuine OEM products.
HP representatives have also spoken of other similar raids carried out in Noida, Gurugram and other states.
The revelations about these raids comes in the wake of HP’s announcement during its recent Reinvent conference that it is taking a “zero-tolerance” approach to counterfeiting, with the company’s EMEA Print General Manager, David Ryan, saying, “Some partners don’t realise that these cartridges are violating intellectual property, and that is something we will tackle vigorously”.
He went on to add, “We’ll continue to work with loyal partners to take all the action we can where illegal trading practices are being engaged.
“We’re increasing our lobbying efforts to ensure that, from a government affairs perspective, the trading practices of some of these clone companies follows the same standards that any product would do – in terms of certification and compliance. That is an area that is under address right now.”
