The Lusaka Magistrate Court has sentenced a Chinese national to nine months imprisonment with hard labour for selling fake national team replica jerseys.
Magistrate Greenwell Malumani sentenced Huang Bing of house number 7269 Makeni in Lusaka after having found him guilty of selling good bearing a false trademark.
Bing was on January 20, 2018 nabbed for selling 24 pieces of replicas bearing a false trademark valued at K3, 600.
In sentencing Bing, Magistrate Mulalami said that the offence committed was very serious and amounted to theft.
“It is my view that the offence of the sale of jerseys bearing false trademark is equivalent to theft. The trademark is patented and is a work of creativity so people can learn to be creative when their works are protected,” he said.
“This is one case that should send a clear message especially for a foreign nationals that come to do business in Zambia.”
Bing was charged for sale of goods bearing false description in accordance with CAP 405 of the Merchandise Marks Act.
The Football Association of Zambia is set to offload on the market the replicas for the new KoPa jersey.
KoPa is FAZ’s own brand that was unveiled at the just ended African Nations Championship (CHAN).
Very good thanks. Oh! hold on ba Presido will intervene just watch this space. Ama Chinese ambassador will just tell ba president or Lusambo ati dismiss the case, then you will hear home affairs minister ati deported Kanshi umuntu tele iyo
I hope Mr. Lungu will not pardon Mr. Bing. Our leader have more respect for Chinese that Zambians.
Can one really tell between fake and real in the case of such items? What if he was selling the ‘real’ stuff, would he have been charged? If the case was something like ‘unauthorised sale or distribution of national team replica jerseys’ would make more sense …
Mumangeni!
In mmmost of SADC; Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa Zimbabwe, the Chinese are at the centre of music piracy. They get arrested but they are back in business. We should have a regional strategy against this not just arresting one here and there
So why is Pivoty Simwanza not in Jail, he has been selling fake Jerseys for the longest time.
Good! Now for the Music pirates! Show these people that Zambia takes intellectual property laws seriously!!
Whose intellectual property laws, bane!? Just let the China man free. He has no case to answer. Our courts seem to have teeth when it only comes to trivial cases such as this. Shame. Why not just warn and caution the guy? Does this case deserve a custodial sentence, really?
Ba Silent Observer – Intellectual property laws are not a simple matter. You do not infringe on other entities trademarks and think that you can get away with it. You clearly do not even understand what Intellectual Property means. Laxity on these laws can impact a lot of things in the economy. And the a message needs to be put across to Chinese nationals on the need to respect laws of a country that they are residing in. The Magistrate was actually lenient and I hope that if this man appeals he receives a longer sentence.
Ba Silent observer first go to school and learn to appreciate these things before barking nonsense. Intellectual property is the driving force behind Europe’s industrial revolution. If you don’t take it seriously you will continue languishing in underdevelopment and waiting to buy the developed world’s patented produce thereby enriching them More and more. You can forgive a man who steals your fish but not the one who steals the skill to make a fishing net. The sentence given to the Chinese is too lenient!
If he pardoned one Mukobeko guy it is fine to pardon him too.
Am sure he is from the same factory…any those are very cheap jerseys easy to copy…FAZ leave it to sports companies to kit you just produce results on the pitch!!
No any Zambian including the president should prevent this charge, to this notorious chinese national, who has found unlimited peace in Zambia from taking effect. Well done judge
Well, he was given fair trial and failed to defend himself. In other words he has earned himself the sentence. These Chinese are not simple beings but complicated ones who think outside the box. When we were growing up we never new that the Mukula tree had such value. Ask ba Kaunda nangu ba Kasonde if they knew this tree had such value. It had to take a China man to work us up and by then a lot had passed right under our noses.
Let him go just warn him Rupiah is a thief but he is free and even his son is a rich man after stealing from Zambians and he is in RSA and Singapore
All animals are equal but others are more equal than others! Wait and see!