Is buying counterfeit goods illegal?

Question

There are fake Rolexs being sold on the internet for around £250. This is illegal, and those engaged in selling such items have been charged with unauthorised use of a trademark. It appears that the crime here is

the right is not in the claimant's unregistered trade mark but in the business conducted under that sign or mark. There is a requirement in some criminal law covering Intellectual Property, as detailed in the above sections of this guidance, to demonstrate that an illegal activity is carried out in the course of a business".

If the buyer wanted the watch for purely personal reasons, would they be committing any crime by purchasing it?

Answer 1

If the buyer wanted the watch for purely personal reasons, would they be committing any crime?

NO

The offences are at s.92 of the Trade Marks Act 1994 and all relate to either selling, or possessing as part of a business, such goods with...

a view to gain for himself or another, or with intent to cause loss to another, and without the consent of the proprietor

Answer 2

While the question specifically asks about UK law, similar principles apply in united-states law. Thus I will answer for the same issue in US law.

The relevant section of US Federal law is 18 U.S. Code § 2320 - Trafficking in counterfeit goods or services. This declares that anyone is a criminal who:

• (1) traffics in goods or services and knowingly uses a counterfeit mark ...
• (2) traffics in labels, patches, stickers, ... , or packaging of any type or nature, knowing that a counterfeit mark has been applied thereto, ...
• (3) traffics in goods or services knowing that such good or service is a counterfeit military good or service the use, malfunction, or failure of which is likely to cause serious bodily injury or death, the disclosure of classified information, impairment of combat operations, or other significant harm
• (4) traffics in a drug and knowingly uses a counterfeit mark ...

All of these refer to a person who "traffics" In this connection this will mean sells or tries to sell, or transports for sale, not buys.

Findlaw's page on "Buying Counterfeit Goods: Laws and Resources" says:

In the U.S., federal law protecting trademarks makes it illegal to knowingly traffic counterfeit goods, which includes the production, sale and transport of such goods. The U.S. Department of Justice, however, has stated that federal law doesn’t prohibit an individual from buying a counterfeit product for personal use, even if they do so knowingly.

Answer 3

In short, no, purchasing counterefeit good for personal reasons is legal. As long as you do not sell or legally claim the goods to be authentic (for insurance reasons or other), there is no law that stops you buying them, at least in the UK.

However, there are other risks involved, for example:

• you could be sponsoring terrorism or organised crime
• some counterfeit goods could be harmful, if they are made from certain substances or contain malware etc.

I doubt either of these apply to these watches although some metals such as lead or zinc can cause irritation or more severe issues.

Answer 4

It may be illegal to use the item for its intended purpose.

As an example, construction codes typically require use of certified or approved building materials. Counterfeits are readily available from direct mail vendors - just look at the glut of very cheap to-be-wired-in smart switches and cheap fixtures found on sketchy direct-mail sites, including the Amazon Marketplace on amazon.co.uk. These bypass the safety apparatus which keeps dangerous and counterfeit goods out of home stores.

This can be a maze of regulations, whose sources can be quite obscure.

So in that case, yes; a person intentionally buying a fake e.g. smart switch either because it's cheaper or has a feature-set not yet available in a properly certified article, is afoul of the law.