Photo: RoseBox

Global transportation company receives fine for delivering counterfeit goods

Jul 1, 2020 | Trials

1. July 2020

A major Danish transportation company has pleaded guilty to contributing to copyright infringement and has therefore received a fine of DKK 50,000 for delivery of counterfeited designer furniture.

Enabling sales of counterfeited goods through deliveries has cost a global transportation company rooted in Denmark a fine of DKK 50,000. From May 2014 to September 2016, the company has transported and delivered counterfeits of Danish design classics from the illegal site Nlini.com, whose owner back in 2019 was convicted for extensive sales of counterfeited furniture.

The transportation company has thus delivered counterfeited versions of the Danish design classics such as the PH lamp, the Egg and the Y-chair, among others, to Danes, who bought the cheaper copies on Nlini.com. Therefore, the transportation company was convicted guilty of contributing to copyright infringement.

Increased focus on transporter’s liability

In recent years, in the context of copyright infringement cases online, there has been a much greater focus on so-called ‘intermediaries’, who enables the transaction between copyright infringers and the end user. An intermediary can both be the otherwise legal online platforms such as Alibaba, where the buying and selling of counterfeited goods can take place and the transportation companies that provides delivery of those goods.

There have been quite a few cases in several parts of the world, where the responsibilities and role of the intermediaries as contributors to copyright infringement have been tried in court. In Denmark the State Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime has settled two cases within the past two years, where Danish transportation companies, have received fines for contributing to copyright infringement. In both cases there have been systematic violations and in both cases the transporter pleaded guilty and thus received a fine.

Common task to suppress counterfeited goods

The director of the Danish Rights Alliance, Maria Fredenslund, considers the increased focus on transporter’s liability in copyright infringement cases as an important expression of the common task it is to suppress counterfeited goods:

“If we are to fight counterfeited goods effectively, we need to dismantle sales all the way around. This means that both platforms and transporters will have to do their part in ensuring that counterfeit goods cannot be sold or delivered to customers,” she explains.