'Naivity' no defence for selling fakes

An East Sussex woman has been sentenced to 100 hours unpaid community work, given a 12 month community order and ordered to pay £1530 costs for selling fake branded goods on eBay, reports the Rye & Battle Observer. The mother of three from Hampden Park sold a fake Playboy bra, keyring watch and two pairs of earrings to an undercover buyer from Trading Standards. A subsequent raid on her house uncovered 268 counterfeit Playboy and Juicy Couture items. She admitted three charges of selling goods likely to be mistaken for a registered trade mark and eleven further charges of possessing items likely to be mistaken for a registered trade mark with a view to selling them.

The defendant’s solicitor stated that “there seemed to be no issue that the goods were counterfeit in her mind. She had bought them from a wholesaler who said they were authentic.” His client had shown, he said, “a degree of naivity”.