"The good news is that in the battle against counterfeiters selling inferior, unauthorised products illegally bearing the Company's logo, Sennheiser is winning," says the company.
Debbie Tyler, Sennheiser UK's director of HR, is leading the fight against the counterfeiters.
"We have developed an excellent working relationship with HM Revenue and Customs," explains Tyler. "Every time they seize a shipment of counterfeit products ¬ which is on a regular basis now, ¬ they send us samples of the goods for us to examine. Some counterfeits are obvious to spot, as they'll contain Chinese lettering or an incorrect logo. Although the more accurate counterfeits look near to perfect. The difference is the makers have used inferior plastics and components. In some cases it's necessary for our Engineering department to confirm that they are counterfeit products.
"Once Sennheiser UK declares that they are fake, HM Customs destroys the shipment, at Sennheiser's cost. Sennheiser is passed the details of the person or company that sent the shipment, and its intended destination and then takes legal action through Sennheiser's Parent Company. There are ongoing cases right now.
"We're also working very closely with the Trading Standards Authority nationwide. If a consumer gets in touch with them, believing they've been sold substandard goods bearing the Sennheiser name, we're able to confirm immediately that the products are counterfeit, enabling Trading Standards to take legal action against the retailer."
The problem for authorised dealers is that some consumers are choosing to make their purchases on-line for what they believe are bargains at better-than-store prices. The problem for those consumers is that they've purchased inferior products. Sennheiser receives calls on a daily basis from customers wondering why the microphones and headphones sound poor or have fallen apart; the unwelcome answer is that their goods haven't been made by Sennheiser at all.
A company statement reads: "The Internet is the major retail point for virtually all counterfeit Sennheiser products - many have been found on eBay - and the Internet is where Sennheiser UK is focussing its efforts at these unwelcome points of sale.
"Sennheiser UK do not knowingly sell direct to dealers who sell on eBay or similar auction sites. If any Sennheiser product is advertised as new and is heavily discounted, it is unlikely to be genuine. For customers to be sure they're buying a genuine product, Sennheiser strongly recommends buying from an authorised Sennheiser retailer. A list of these retailers is available at www.sennheiser.co.uk."
Tyler adds: "If you type the word Sennheiser into the popular auction sites you automatically receive a warning that the company and its dealers do not sell products on auction sites and what you'd be purchasing could very well be a counterfeit product."
"On top of that, Sennheiser UK is continually shutting down unauthorised dealers selling on eBay through a programme called VeRO. We investigate all UK based vendors selling so-called Sennheiser products and send them a message that states that Sennheiser owns the intellectual rights. That message goes to the vendor and eBay, who are forced to remove the product in a matter of hours. We are removing illegal pages on a daily basis. One morning recently we shut down 400 pages. eBay are being very supportive. Having paid 40 million Euros to Louis Vuitton after a court case about counterfeit goods, they¹re very concerned about the problem."
This ongoing fight against illegal traders is beginning to get r
