PORTSMOUTH
More than $100,000 worth of counterfeit products were seized from a Portsmouth store on Wednesday.
Janice Westerbeck, a police spokeswoman, said property crimes detectives served a search warrant at 10:17 a.m. at the Now Fashions store in the 5700 block of Churchland Blvd.
The search was part of an ongoing joint investigation with Blazer Investigations, she said, a private investigations company based in Concord, N.C.
Detectives had previously made several purchases of what Westerbeck described as "counterfeit products" at the store, such as handbags.
Some of the brand names found on the counterfeit goods were Baby Phat, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Coach and NFL products.
No arrests were immediately made. The investigation is continuing, Westerbeck said.
Steve Stone, (757) 446-2309, steve.stone@pilotonline.com
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No, definitely not stealing
No, trademark infringement is not, "in fact stealing." As envisioned by the founding fathers these matters were purely civil. The supreme court has stated very clearly that trademark and copyright violations are not stealing - your view is contrary to common sense and legal realities.
When I steal from you, you have less property than you did before. When I violate your trademark, at worst, I deprive you of hypothetical income. There is no guarantee these people would ever have bought genuine Gucci articles, so the loss is theoretical.
When Gucci's trademarks are respected, Gucci profits, yet the people of Portsmouth are to bear the burden of enforcing those trademarks? Gucci and their lawyers are fully capable of taking care of themselves.
The people of Portsmouth are safer
Think about it. $100,000 or criminal activity off the street. It amazes me when I hear anyone say that any criminal act is not serious enough to worry about. So I guess if I were to steal $100,000 from the person who thinks this to be a Civil matter would be fine with him as long as he could sue me for the money. The problem with this type of crime is that it is in fact stealing. And you pay for it. Past those things such as Baby food, brake parts and things such as that are routinely counterfeited. Think about it. It really is not about big companies needing another million dollars its about your father, brother, wife etc.. That has risked everything to open a legitimate store and now has to compete against a store that does not play fair. Civil matter I think not. I think Portsmouth Police have displayed that no crime is too small and that it is committed to its citizens.
Enough of the Police
Enough of the Police bashing. They are doing their job. You all think your experts. I hope you never need one of Portmouth's finest, but if you do, they will be there for you.
This should be a civil matter
The Portsmouth police are more than busy enough to be the fashion police as well.
If this store sold fake good then they've committed trademark or perhaps copyright violations. That's an issue for the civil courts. This has made the people of Portsmouth no safer. Surely the folks paying $7.99 for a Gucci handbag had no illusions that they were buying the real thing.
Let Gucci, Coach, the NFL, et al., file a civil suit and let the Portsmouth police deal with real-life criminal matters.