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

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?

:confused2:

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

No advice from anyone? :( People do just it without considering the legal aspect or everyone is just as clueless as I am :confused2:

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

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. :)

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

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...

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

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

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

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.

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

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?

:confused2:

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

Anyone any thoughts any comments :confused2:

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

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 :mad:

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

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...

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

I do not think there is a law on selling branded goods jus take a look at how many branded bags are on sale at Bagnatic

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

1.
The sale of counterfeit products of trademarked goods ("branded" or not) is illegal in Singapore. Counterfeiting a trademark is a criminal offence punishable by a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both. Trying to pass off your own products or services as another registered trademark is also an offence.

You can google for the Trade Marks Act of Singapore. Furthermore, the owner of the trademark can sue you for compensation for the loss of income due to your counterfeit products and may be compelled by the court to turn over all profits to the trademark owner.

2.
The trademark act only covers "trade or manufacture", "sale" or "expose for sale" for even one single product. However, it does not penalise any persons from purchasing any form of "fake" products for personal use. Therefore buyers are not guilty until they try to sell of the item as second-hand or "pre-loved".

3.
As per in Q1's answer, yes. So long its trademarked, its popularity plays no role in deciding if you have infringed the Trademark Act. Example: If I was to register a clothes brand "So-Lousy" tomorrow and a week later that you decided to manufacturing or selling products that are similar to what I have trademarked, I could attempt to stop you from your sale or sue you. While I probably can't demand as high a compensation from you if you had been sued by other big brands, you would be liable for the criminal offence and thus both the fine and jail term.

4.
Most goods are for "End-user" which means that the seller (or brand-owner) assumes that the sale has been made for your personal use and not meant to be transferred to other users. However, I don't think its illegal to sell away our unwanted items unless done habitually for a profit. Consult a IP lawyer if you really want to know.

5.
In Singapore, there is no real law that protect brand owners from the sale of parallel imported goods. One famous example would be BMW cars. Many of them are parallel imported and thus much cheaper. However, there is a very tricky question. How do you prove that the goods on your hand is authentic?

Even if the product on hand is extremely similar, it could be a very good imitation good. It would be the onus of the seller (or infringer) to proof the authenticity of the goods or to be prosecuted for the marketing and sale of fake goods.

Besides that even if you are able to proof their your products are authentic, (e.g. a certificate from their overseas headquarters etc) the lengthy court orders and sessions consumes not just your precious time but will bring about hefty legal fees. This is a tactic just by some MNCs to bring down smaller businesses that could possibly affect their annual revenue reports.

I hope that these answers are sufficient for your due consideration. :D

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

If that is the case, all parallel car importers have to stop selling MB/Toyota/Honda??