Vendors accused of selling fakes at Melbourne Royal Show

As the Melbourne Royal Show comes to a close, the problem of counterfeit clothing at the major rural and agricultural trade exhibition has been highlighted by Australian local newspaper The Age.

One of the companies exhibiting at the show was ordered to remove clothing from its stall that was suspected of counterfeiting streetwear brand Geedup Clothing, while New Zealand clothing label Ronnie Blu pulled its stand in protest after seeing counterfeits of its products on sale.

Geedup told the newspaper that it had warned organisers several weeks ago that the unnamed vendor was selling counterfeit Geedup-branded items after coming across items at earlier Royal Shows in Adelaide and Sydney. It has been pushing for them to be permanently banned from the events.

Meanwhile, Ronnie Blu sent a letter to the organisers of the Melbourne show complaining about stalls selling knock-offs of its premium leisurewear, which is made using natural and recycled materials. After that failed to get a satisfactory response the decision was taken to drop out of the event and it asked for a refund of its A$5,700 stall fee, which was denied.

The company's co-owner Mathew Haldane said the exhibition was "like the streets of Bali," referring to the markets in the Indonesian providence that are famous for counterfeit products.

Trade fairs are a great way to promote and sell goods, but are notorious for also allowing counterfeiters to copy designs and undermine brands, and organisers generally ignore the issue.

The advice for brand owners is to take swift action if they come across exhibitors infringing their trademarks, gathering as much evidence as possible of the activity as the burden is on the rights holder to prove infringement, and presenting a case to local trading standards authorities.

A spokesman for the Melbourne Royal Show told The Age that exhibitors had to sign an agreement that only officially licensed goods could sold and counterfeits are prohibited, and said it would "welcome relevant authorities to come and inspect products to ensure they comply with local regulations and trademarks."