What's the Singapore Law on Selling Branded Goods Online?

xoxoxo

Can someone enlighten me on above topic? I know selling fake branded goods like LV, Prada, etc, whether online or anywhere is against the law but I still see many people selling....

Questions:

1. What is the penalty if caught for selling fake branded goods?

2. Seller of fake goods are of course guilty, what about the buyers?

3. Does the same law applies to non-branded goods but are trademark/patent registered?

4. If the branded goods on sale is NOT fake, and sellers can prove that it is out of their own collection which they are parting for various reasons, presumably this is NOT against the law?

5. If the branded goods on sale is NOT fake, and sellers import them for purpose of making a profit, is this against the law?

xoxoxo

No advice from anyone? People do just it without considering the legal aspect or everyone is just as clueless as I am

Runaway

Hi,

As we are also into online retail, i have done some bit of research on this issue of fake branded goods...

My conclusion from research is:

- It is illegal to be involved in black market - selling of fake branded goods. The penalty, I'm not sure. But since it's illegal, don't do it and risk your reputation.

- There is something called "Grey market". This means selling of real branded goods but not by any proper contracted distribution. Meaning, the brand owners do not know you are selling their goods. So far, I've not found anywhere that says this is illegal. So if you buy a real good somewhere else and sell it as a real good, then it should be ok. This should include selling off your real prada bag as 2nd hand and the likes.

- Purpose of trademark/patent is to prevent copying. So, if someone has done a trademark / patent, it is illegal to copy the design / name and create one of your own, misleading shoppers. If you would like to sell a non branded good with trademark/patent, just make sure the credit goes to the right place. Do not mislead others into thinking its your own trademark/patent. You can be sued.

Hope this helps. All the best.

petchow

The penalty for selling fakes goods is a hefty fine which they will base on the number of pcs you are caught with and if you are unable to pay up - well you can guess where you will spending some quality time...

dingdong5770

Just answer questions 4 & 5 since the other already answered.

4) As long it is out of their own collection and they don't mind to declare it as 2nd hand, it is ok.

5) If sellers import them for the purpose of making a profit, this is consider illegal if they are selling it as 1st hand. For example, you go to Paris and get lots of LV bags and decide to resell them back in Sg in an outlet or bazaar, this is consider illegal. You will need to be an authorised reseller to sell the branded goods. At the end of the day, LV do not want people to have an idea that their products can be gotten cheap from and normal outlet or bazaar. This will not be fair to their authorised dealer or distributor. The local distributor can sue you if they want to.

I understand that you can find some outlets or people selling genuine goods but at the end of the day, they are just taking a risk. Ask youself whether it's worth taking the risk. They might justified by saying that the major or big distributor do not have the time to report this kind of small resellers selling the branded goods but at the end of the day, it is illegal and if they want to sell them, it is a risk they have to take.

Hope it helps your queries

gastechz

The laws of Singapore allow for parallel import, meaning importing genuine items and reselling them, and bypassing the authorised reseller. A prime example is the parallel import of cars and electronic products. LV, for example jealously defends their turf, and will take the parallel importers to court, but this has to be taken in the context of the law of the land. I think they have succeed in some countries, and lost in some other countries. I am not sure of any case in Singapore.

xoxoxo

another common trend is the selling of branded apparels like Max mara, Bcbg, Chloe etc. I think many of them imported the apparels from China. Are they genuine or fake? And is it legal to sell them even if they are no labels i.e. the brand labels have been destroyed/defaced/cut?

And when we say it is illegal, which authority in Singapore is monitoring this? I have seen in newspaper, businesses being caught but who actually reported them, the authorised dealer reporting on the unauthorised dealer?

xoxoxo

Anyone any thoughts any comments

xoxoxo

Viper2225, there's no need to post the same thing over and over again all over the forum I think there's at least 20 of the same posts

Mystech

lol thats called spamming. and if the mods bo hiews, there isn't anything much we can do.

Although it is not a criminal act to sell clothes which have their labels taken away, the companies can charge you under infringement, i think. But they have to prove the item is actually theirs. so if no brand no nothing...