Court orders Customs to destroy 2,400 counterfeit Nike shoes found at Freeport

The First Chamber of the Civil Court, presided over by the Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti, has ordered the destruction of 2,400 counterfeit pairs of shoes that arrived in Malta last year.

Nike Innovate C.V. from Oregon USA, through its lawyer Antoine Camilleri, had filed a lawsuit against the Chinese company Jinhai Import and Export and against SARL Bouzid Trad Annane Hachemi from Algeria. Lawyers Daniel Attard and Attorney Luisa Tufigno appeared for the two companies.

The American company NIKE and Swoosh Design are trademarks used by the company on various products such as shoes, sandals, sportswear, caps and other products. The brands are registered as EU Trade Marks.

Evidence shows that the shoes were unloaded in the Port of Marsaxlokk from the ship APL AUSTRIA, which entered Malta on 17 May last year.

Customs officers found a consignment of 100 boxes, with a total of 2,400 pairs of shoes in a container. These shoes were suspected to be non-genuine, and subsequent examinations proved that the shoes were counterfeit.

A report was filed by Laura Rizza, a company representative for NIKE and Swoosh Design.

The Court said that there was a violation of the articles of the Cap. 414 and Article 9 of the European Union Regulation. It stated that all allegations were corroborated by the documents exhibited in court, including an affidavit from customs officer Randolph Mizzi, who confirmed that the goods were being kept in Customs' warehouses.

For these reasons, the Court declared that the consignments in question were counterfeit and declared goods, and that their entry into Malta would infringe the property right of the company that made the application, insofar as they were not genuine. 

Additionally, the Court ordered Customs to destroy the goods without any compensation within 90 days of the date of the judgment and to pay all importers' costs, including transport, storage, destruction of the goods in question.