Mr Artur Dębski (a member of the Polish political party Palikot’s Movement) was accused by the Prosecutor Office for introducing to the market counterfeited products bearing Burberry and Louise Vuitton trade marks.
Mr Debski traded with China since the early 90s on a large scale, as a partner in the company Portfex. The Company imported dozens of containers “Chinese stuff” raging from pens, notebooks for cutlery, plates and “mops” and other fancy goods – bags, toilet bags, wallets. They offered about seven thousand items. Formerly, all these products were seld on the largest bazaar in Warsaw – the Tenth Anniversary Stadium (now the National Stadium), markets near Lodz and in Wólka Kosowska near Warsaw, the famous Chinese Center (very large market where Chinese products are sold in Poland). Portfex also supplied the supermarkets chains and merchants selling products in shops that offered “everything for 5 PLN”.
In one of the containers, which Portfex celebrated on duty in Hamburg, among more than 100000 shopping bags, wallets and other stuff were around 3300 items bearing Louise Vuitton and Burberry trade marks. On 16 February 2011, the Police officers from the department of economic crimes in Pruszków, discovered them among the goods in the warehouse owned by Dębski in Raszyn.
Mr Dębski admitted he had no idea about figurative trade marks that are registered in the EU, however, he argued that he is able to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit goods. His trial started yesterday.
