The Colombo Crime Division (CCD) has this week taken strong action to minimise the quantity of counterfeit merchandise in circulation during the ICC World Twenty20 being held in Sri Lanka.
The CCD has conducted a series of raids on retailers in the Pettah market area of Colombo and has closed down a factory in Boralesamuwa which was in the process of producing large quantities of fake team "event" shirts.
The raids follow a complaint to the Sri Lankan police filed by the ICC relating to the protection of trade marks and logos associated with the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012.
Widespread seizures of goods infringing the intellectual property rights of the ICC and the participating nations were made as a result of the raids and arrests were made.
Having published the appropriate cautionary notices in both English and Sinhalese newspapers, the actions are indicative of the ICC's intention to take seriously infringements of commercial rights relating to the ICC World Twenty20 and its other officially sanctioned global cricket tournaments while recognising the overriding need to protect the consumer.
Iain Higgins, ICC's Head of Legal, said: "Counterfeit goods are a menace to all global events and the ICC is determined to protect not only the valuable commercial rights of its partners, but also the interests of the general public who may find themselves unwittingly purchasing inferior counterfeit products believing them to be official event merchandise.
"Similar raids were carried out with great success during the ICC Cricket World Cup last year and we will continue throughout the course of the ICC World Twenty20 to pursue criminal action against those manufacturers and traders who are responsible for any other infringements that come to our attention."
-ICC Media Release-
