Musica sues pirate product supplier

Musica was found guilty last week in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court of selling counterfeit Sony PlayStation 2 controllers and memory cards. The company was found to be negligent in not verifying the authenticity of the products. The magistrate found that it had “failed to take all reasonable steps to avoid engaging in the sale of counterfeit goods".

Sentencing was postponed to next month.

Musica's national game buyer told the court that SterKinekor did not have the exclusive rights to distribute Sony products nationwide.

However, Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft (Safact) CE James Lennox claimed Dolphin conducted business out of a wooden Wendy house in a garden. He said this reflected the amount of attention Musica paid to the sourcing of its products. The charge against Musica was laid after Safact lodged a complaint against it.

National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman Bulelwa Makeke said it was clear that Musica did not do a background check on Dolphin.

New Clicks, which owns Musica, said it believed the company had followed the correct procedures. CEO David Kneale said yesterday Musica believed it had followed due process in approving the credentials of the supplier, and trusted it to provide authentic product.

“The initial product purchased from Dolphin Enterprises was authentic Sony merchandise imported into the country. Some controllers and memory cards subsequently purchased turned out to be counterfeit.”

Dolphin Enterprises has pleaded guilty and Musica will now sue the company and is awaiting a court date after instituting proceedings last October.

Source: Sapa/Business Day

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