Fakes drub original in Games match

Organising Committee, police raid shops in Defence Colony, Janpath selling Games merchandise illegally. Avishek G. Dastidar reports.

When it comes to Commonwealth Games-branded merchandise, the fake has beaten the original in reaching the buyers first.

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On Thursday, the Games Organising Committee (OC), armed with the police, raided three shops — two at Janpath market and one in Defence Colony — and seized t-shirts with the official 'Commonwealth Games Delhi' logo printed on them.

The t-shirts, being sold for Rs 425 each, were a hit with foreign tourists, the salesmen at the shops told the raiding party.

As the Games organisers drag their feet in officially releasing the unique Commonwealth Games-branded stationary items, the "rip-off" industry has already entered Delhi's posh markets, cashing in on the Commonwealth brand name.

And the organisers know it.

"We had noticed a number of violations of intellectual property laws as far as using our designs are concerned. People are printing the Games logo and pictures of the mascot, Shera, on items and selling them openly," said Lalit Bhanot, Secretary General of the OC.

"We now have the court's permission to raid and seize them,"

The OC received a green signal from the High Court on July 2 to act against "design pirates" with the help of special court-appointed commissioners.

After that, its team went to find out the extent of the copyright violations in the market. "We found a number of items like toys and clothes and even tourist buses using the Games logo," said an OC official.

All three shops raided on Thursday belong to a Defence Colony-based businessman called Harinder Singh who was not present at the spot and, as his employees at the shops said, was not available for a comment.

"We have been selling these shirts for barely a month. We did not know it was illegal," said a salesman.

Around 40 such t-shirts were recovered from the three shops.

The lawyers comprising the raiding party said the warehouse and factory would throw up a large number of the items but the court's order restricted them to raid just shops.

With the help of professionals, the organisers have copyrighted 50 design elements unique to the Delhi Games.

"Only sponsors and licence holders have the rights to use them in merchandise and publicity materials. It is a huge revenue earner for us," he added.

The infringement of copyright attracts an injunction and penalty, whose amount depends on the discretion of the judge.

The OC is planning to officially release the merchandise by next week.