UK business fined £300k for selling fake license plate holders

Slough, UK-based business Sola Sales has been fined more than £300,000 ($391,000) after being found guilty of selling counterfeit license plate holders that infringe on trademarks held by BMW/Mini.

An investigation into the company's activities started with a test purchase of a set of number plate holders by Trading Standards officers in 2017, which was followed by a search of its premises that uncovered 3,466 surrounds bearing the trademarks of 22 carmakers, according to Slough Borough Council.

Although the two directors claimed they purchased the number plate holders from a reputable EU based company in good faith and were unaware the holders were an unlicensed product, a forensic analysis of the seized computer revealed that a large consignment of counterfeit number plate holders destined for Sola Sales, from their supplier, had been seized and destroyed by Customs Officers in Calais in March 2016.

A judge at Reading Crown Court granted a confiscation order for the sum of £333,955 to Sola Sales and its two directors – Marcin Wdowiak and Kazimiera Swiniarska – as well as the council’s prosecution costs and fines totalling £20,000.

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