Spitz interdicts entity selling ‘fake’ products

• Ruling that business person must reveal dealings likely to lift the lid on trade in counterfeits

Johannesburg-based businessperson Samuel Hamza will have to disclose to A&D Spitz where he sources counterfeits of popular Carvela-branded products or potentially face imprisonment – in a case that is likely to deal a blow to the thriving counterfeit market in SA. This is after the police in 2022 seized counterfeit Carvelabranded products at Hamza’s business premises in Jeppe Street, Johannesburg.

Johannesburg-based businessperson Samuel Hamza will have to disclose to A&D Spitz where he sources counterfeits of popular Carvela-branded products or potentially face imprisonment – in a case that is likely to deal a blow to the thriving counterfeit market in SA.

A&D Spitz approached the high court in Johannesburg to bar Hamza and his company Blessed Miracle Wholesalers and Suppliers from importing, manufacturing, distributing or selling the fake version of its Carvela brand.

This is after the police in 2022 seized counterfeit Carvela-branded products at Hamza’s business premises in Jeppe Street, Johannesburg.

A&D Spitz, which is owned by JSE-listed consumer goods group AVI, told the court that it is the owner in SA of various trademarks incorporating the mark “Carvela”.

The company, established by Anthony and David Spitz in 1968 in Johannesburg’s CBD, now has about 100 stores countrywide.

It told the court that Hamza’s company, a retailer or wholesaler of formal men’s apparel and men’s shoes, has been trading in counterfeit Carvela products at the direction of Hamza.

Acting judge Don Mahon agreed with Spitz and barred Hamza and his company from importing, distributing and selling fake Carvela products.

Mahon went a step further and ordered Hamza to reveal where he sources the fake goods in a move that might lift the lid on some of the figures behind the lucrative black market in counterfeit goods.

The information that Mahon ordered Hamza to hand over to Spitz includes the name and registration number of the manufacturer and source of the counterfeit Carvela-branded products. Hamza will also be expected to provide documentation relating to the purchase or procurement or other dealings in the counterfeit Carvelabranded products.

“Should the opposing respondents fail to disclose within 10 days of service of this order … the applicant [Spitz] may apply to court, based on the contents of this affidavit, supplemented to the extent it deems necessary, for an order declaring the opposing respondents to be in contempt of court and for further relief in the form of a penalty and/or imprisonment,” reads the judgment.

“The opposing respondents are directed to deliver up at the premises of the applicant or its legal representatives, Adams & Adams, any counterfeit Carvelabranded products which are currently in their possession or under their control.”

Mahon also ordered that Spitz take into its possession the counterfeit Carvela-branded products seized by the SA Police Service (SAPS) in June 2022 from Hamza’s premises in the Johannesburg CBD.

Central Johannesburg has been flagged as one of the hotspots for counterfeit products in the country.

According to Tax Justice SA, R6.7bn worth of counterfeit clothing, footwear, handbags and illegal textiles was seized by the SA Revenue Service (Sars) between 2016 and 2019, with more than 6,000 seizures being conducted by Sars over this time period.

In May, police at the Durban Harbour seized a container filled with fake Louis Vuitton, Gucci and other luxury brand clothing items with an estimated street value of R400m.

The goods were seized from a container from an unnamed Asian country.

The popular fake goods sold in the country’s CBDs include branded clothing, sports apparel, footwear, handbags, wallets, sunglasses and fragrances.