• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]
Contact form
Patent- & Rechtsanwaltskanzlei

Patent- & Rechtsanwaltskanzlei

  • Deutsch

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • xing
  • Email
MENUMENU
  • Services
    • Advice On Protective IP Rights
    • Patent Application /TM Registration
    • Enforcement Of IP Rights
    • Defence Against IP Rights Enforcement
    • Costs
  • Company
    • Fields of Law
      • Patent Law
      • Utility Model Law
      • Employees’ Inventions
      • Trademark Law
      • Design Law
      • Trademark and Product Piracy
      • Expert Opinions
    • Our Law Firm
      • Dr. Karl-Hermann Meyer-Dulheuer
      • Dr. Tim Meyer-Dulheuer
      • Dr. Klaus Zimmermann
      • Zhichao Ying
      • Clara Elinor Grünewald
    • Commitment
  • Contact
    • Where To Find Us
    • Write us!
    • Request call back
  • Blog

Product piracy with Extra virgin olive oil: Europol seizes 150,000 litres fakes

15. May 2019

Important strike against product piracy with high-quality olive oil: Europol has seized 150,000 litres of counterfeit extra virgin olive oil in Germany in a joint action by Germany and Italy. Moreover border seizure is an effective means of preventing the import of fake goods.

olive oil product piracyIn an operation against inferior food, Europol, in cooperation with the Italian Carabinieri and the Darmstadt court in Germany, confiscated 150 000 litres of counterfeit olive oil in the special quality class “Extra virgin olive oil”, according to press release of Europol.

Product piracy with high-quality olive oil first attracted attention in Italy, according to a current press release from Europol. The Italian Carabieri succeeded in finding a criminal organization that manipulated large quantities of sunflower oil in Italy. The gangs added components such as chlorophyll, beta-carotene and soya oil to the inferior oil and made it look like “extra virgin olive oil”.

Extra virgin olive oil

Olive oil is divided into three quality classes according to the European regulation (61/2011), whereby extra virgin olive oil counts to the highest quality class 1. Extra virgin olive oils of this quality are subject to strict requirements. This is extra virgin olive oil pressed by a mechanical process.

Quality classes should not be confused with Protected designation of origin or Guaranteed traditional speciality (read here about EU geographical designation).

The suspects delivered the manipulated oil in trucks to Germany. Here the counterfeit olive oil was to be sold in the catering trade and stored in logistics companies.

In Italy and Germany, 20 house searches were carried out and a total of 150 000 litres of counterfeit olive oil were seized in various places, including five lorries each carrying 23 000 litres of counterfeit oil, Europol informed in its latest press release.

According to estimates, the suspects have won about 8 million euros each year, Europol says. This estimate is based on the assumption that one million litres of sunflower oil were purchased for around one million euro per year and that the counterfeit product was sold at between 5 and 10 euro per litre.

This action was carried out against product piracy by the international operation OPSON, which focuses on combating counterfeiting and inferior quality food and drink on the European and non-European markets. Europol and Eurojust shall support these actions.

The experts of the Europol Intellectual Property Crime Coordinated Coalition (IPC³) also provided support.
IPC³ describes a strategic cooperation between the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European police authority Europol (read more about IPC³ here).

Product and brand piracy increase

Product and brand piracy are a serious and increasing problem: counterfeit products that infringe existing patent, trademark or design rights are constantly being imported into the EU and Germany from non-EU countries. The customs border seizure is an effective means to forestall the infringers of your intellectual property rights before they start earning money with your ideas in the EU or in Germany.

What is a customs border seizure?

Customs border seizure is one way of combating patent, trademark or design infringing products imported into Europe or Germany from non-EU countries and sold or exhibited here at trade fairs at an early stage.
European or German customs authorities intercept suspicious products at the border, detain them for a certain period and inform the holder of the property right concerned of the discovery of the suspicious goods. The latter is then in a position to take action against potential product or brand pirates.

In the same way, border seizure can also be applied to products intended for export or reimport into the EU or Germany.

Maybe also interesting in this context:

  • ECJ denies rebranding of goods before their EU import
  • Counterfeit goods on Social Media: Europol seizes 20 000 packages
  • ECJ ruling on parallel imports: Is re-labelling considered repackaging?
  • ECJ: Copyright infringed by stored goods

 

Prevent product and brand piracy

Border seizure is an effective means of preventing the import of trademark, patent or design infringing products into the EU or Germany. Equally important is a wisely designed and effective monitoring of your intellectual property rights as preventive work, where border seizure should be seen as a means rather than a sustainable solution.


 

 

 

Sources:

Press Release of Europol

Picture:

stevepb /pixabay.com / CCO License  

  • share  20 
  • share 
  • share 
  • tweet  
  • share 

Category iconProduct- and Trademark piracy Tag iconGermany,  border seizure,  Europol,  Fake products,  counterfeited brand products,  customs border seizure,  olive oil,  extra native olive oil

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

More articles about: Product- and Trademark piracy

All articles

Blog Menu

  • Design Law
  • Healthcare & Lifesciences
  • International Intellectual Property
  • Licenses
  • News from our law firm
  • Overall
  • Patent Law
  • Product- and Trademark piracy
  • Trademark Law
This form uses Google Recaptcha.

You must accept cookies from Google recaptcha to use this form.

More information can be found in our privacy policy.

load form

Recent Posts

  • Thermomix infringement by Lidl: Will Monsieur Cuisine still exist? 25. January 2021
  • Time limit missed for remedying deficiencies at EUIPO 25. January 2021
  • Bacardi wins in trademark dispute Vodka 42 BELOW 20. January 2021
  • HALLOUMI vs. BBQLOUMI: Cyprus loses again in trademark dispute 20. January 2021

Fields of Law

  • Patent Law
  • Utility Model Law
  • Employees’ Inventions
  • Trademark Law
  • Design Law
  • Trademark and Product Piracy
  • Expert Opinions
  • Costs

Das könnte Sie auch interessieren:

25. January 2021
Thermomix infringement by Lidl: Will Monsieur Cuisine still exist?

Thermomix infringement by Lidl: Will Monsieur Cuisine still exist?

11. December 2020
Illegal videos on Youtube – no disclosure of the e-mail

Illegal videos on Youtube – no disclosure of the e-mail

3. December 2020
Käpt’n Iglo: maritime advertising in court

Käpt’n Iglo: maritime advertising in court

10. November 2020
German UWG: Updating Law is coming!

German UWG: Updating Law is coming!

2. November 2020
3 D Printing is trend – but infringement of IP rights? Part #1 of 2

3 D Printing is trend – but infringement of IP rights? Part #1 of 2

8. September 2020
Amazon not responsible for unfair advertising in Amazon affiliates

Amazon not responsible for unfair advertising in Amazon affiliates

Footer

Contact

Franklinstr. 61-63
D-60486 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 199
[email protected]

Customer Reviews

Meyer-Dulheuer MD Legal Patentanwälte PartG mbB Patentrecht, Markenrecht, Eigentum hat 4,78 von 5 Sternen 23 Bewertungen auf ProvenExpert.com

Fields of Law

  • Patent Law
  • Utility Model Law
  • Employees’ Inventions
  • Trademark Law
  • Design Law
  • Trademark and Product Piracy
  • Expert Opinions
  • Costs

Law Firm

  • Request non-binding call back
  • Info secure emails
  • Company
  • Our Law Firm
  • ISO Certificate
  • Privacy Policy
  • Data handling for clients
  • Imprint

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • xing
  • Email

Newsletter Signup

This form uses Google Recaptcha.

You must accept cookies from Google recaptcha to use this form.

More information can be found in our privacy policy.

load form

© Patent- & Rechtsanwaltskanzlei Meyer-Dulheuer MD Legal Patentanwälte PartG mbB

Kontaktformular

 

Rufen Sie uns an, schicken Sie uns eine Mail oder füllen Sie das Kontaktformular aus.

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]

This form uses Google Recaptcha.

You must accept cookies from Google recaptcha to use this form.

More information can be found in our privacy policy.

load form

Contact Form

 

Give us a call, send us an email or fill out the contact form.

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]

This form uses Google Recaptcha.

You must accept cookies from Google recaptcha to use this form.

More information can be found in our privacy policy.

load form