Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Aug 19: Acting on a complaint by Brand Protectors India Pvt Ltd, Mangaluru city police have cracked down on the sale of counterfeit sports goods under the names of reputed brands COSCO, NIVIA, and YONEX.
Based on the complaint filed by Stephen Raj, South India regional head of Brand Protectors India Pvt Ltd, cases were registered under the Copyright Act, 1957. Ullal police registered case number 140/2025 under Sections 51(1)(b), 63, while Mangaluru North (Bunder) police registered case number 95/2025 under the same provisions.
Following the registration, raids were conducted on August 18 in Ullal police station limits and on August 19 in Bunder police station limits. During the raids, police seized nearly 300 fake footballs, volleyballs, and badminton rackets.
As per preliminary estimates, products worth around Rs 3.5 lac were seized in Ullal PS limits, while goods worth about Rs 5 lac were seized in Bunder PS limits. The total value of seized counterfeit items stands at over Rs 8.5 lac.
Police said the counterfeit goods were being sold at Sports Winner shop in Ullal and Mahadev Sports Centre in Bunder. Initial investigations suggest that the products may have been sourced from Jalandhar.
DCP (Law and Order) Mithun said that the raids are still ongoing and further investigation is in progress.
"Customer need to be aware when they are buying sports goods. It is the minute difference between the fake and original sports goods, even the price are almost same. Customers usually don’t check that minute details like font, colour pattern and many more which they buy fake sports goods thinking its genuine," he said.
DCP (Crime and Traffic) Ravi Shankar, ACP Prathap Singh Thorat, and ACP Vijaya Kranthi were also present.