Trader cleared in fake designer goods case

ANTHONY ASPIN with examples of the goods he sells on his stalls in Oldham and Shaw

‘No one with all their faculties would believe they were real’
A TRADER has been cleared of selling counterfeit goods at Oldham’s Tommyfield Market.

Anthony Aspin, proprietor of Tony’s Watches for 17 years, said he was relieved after the case, brought by Oldham Trading Standards, saw him dragged to court on six occasions in what he called “a disgraceful waste of taxpayers’ money”.

He was acquitted on three charges of offering for sale 17 watches and 81 pairs of sunglasses, bearing a logo resembling the trademark of or likely to be mistaken for, popular designer brands Dolce & Gabbanna and Armani.

Oldham magistrates heard how two Trading Standards officers attended Mr Aspin’s stall on May 15, 2010, to carry out an inspection as part of a continuing operation in the town centre.

Miss Uma Bashir said she seized the goods as she believed that an eagle symbol on seven of the watches and all of the sunglasses resembled the Armani-registered logo.

Another officer said the letters DG on some of the watches was too close to the genuine D&G emblem.

Emily Salinski, a brand sales manager for Fossil, the sole distributor for Armani jewellery in the UK, said she thought Mr Aspin’s watches were of “inferior quality” in comparison but said that people without the knowledge of designer items could be led to believe they were buying genuine designer products.

Mr Aspin, from Watersheddings, who sells his watches for £10 and his sunglasses for £3, claimed “no one with all their faculties” would believe the goods were the real brands.

One of his three witnesses, probation service worker Sean Taylor, said: “I wouldn’t know a designer brand if it jumped up and bit me in the face. I bought a watch because it was cheap and I was about to go on holiday.”

Mr Aspin said he took the market job as it was the only one he could get which would allow him 13 weeks off annually to look after his son Paul, who was born blind.

He said all of the packaging displayed the brand Ice Star and that Ice was written on the face of most of the watches.

Carol Curtin, prosecuting for Trading Standards, said: “All of the experts confirmed the sunglasses and watches are counterfeit and that they bear logos which are similar to the registered trademarks.

“You are trying to trade off the reputation of the brands. It is a clever game to play looking at the logo and adding a few differences.”

District judge Prowse said he believed Mr Aspin was a man of good character and that he had never been in trouble with Manchester Trading Standards, who he works with at three Manchester markets.

He said: “Mr Aspin may wish to consider if he offers these watches and sunglasses for sale again, but I think he will give careful thought of what he offers for sale.

“It is quite clear that customers have not been misled in this case and I have severe doubts whether this prosecution should ever have been brought.”