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The importer of one of New Zealand's most successful work-out machines has launched legal action against online auction house Trade Me, claiming it failed to stop counterfeiters from cashing in on the device's good name.
Brand Developers managing director Paul Meier claims to have lost "several millions of
dollars" at the hands of rogue importers flogging cheap Chinese imitations of his Ab King Pro device.
He said fake Ab King Pros weighed up to 4kg less than the original, thanks to the inferior-quality steel used in their production.
The supporting instructional DVDs were also of poor quality, probably because the makers did not have access to a master copy.
Mr Meier has sold about 45,000 Ab King Pros in New Zealand in the past three years. He believes it is that success that has attracted opportunistic counterfeiters, looking to use the brand's good name to sell cheap imitations.
"They hide behind New Zealand's parallel importing laws and use it as an excuse. The poor consumer winds up being duped into something they think is good quality."
A genuine Ab King Pro retails, via television, for $299, while a fake device can go for as little as $50 at online auction.
BDL filed a border protection notice in October 2007, which allowed Customs officers to intercept a number of fake machines at the border.
As of March this year, Customs had seized 4734 counterfeit machines throughout the country with an estimated value of around $1.41 million.
Mr Meier has launched legal action against Trade Me, claiming the site has not done enough to stop the counterfeiters.
But Trade Me spokesman Mike O'Donnell yesterday told the Herald the site had three defence measures against counterfeit products: a security officer; "special tools and filters" to stop counterfeiting; and facilities for Trade Me users to alert the site to bogus products.
Trade Me employed an investigator who could issue warnings to users and ban counterfeit traders.
Mr O'Donnell said BDL had approached the site in the middle of last year with concerns about counterfeit Ab King Pros, and a number of specific measures were put in place.
Trade Me was "surprised" by the BDL suit, but would defend it.
Last week, a French court ordered the global internet auctioneer eBay to pay almost 40 million euros ($82.7 million) to luxury goods companies, including Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, for allowing fake copies of their products to be sold via its website.