Epson Cracks Down Counterfeit Ink Manufacturing Units in Mumbai, Tirupati & Chennai

Police authorities conducted a series of raids where fixers were involved in filling, bottling, packaging and distributing counterfeit Epson ink. 

Epson, a provider of digital imaging and printing solutions, expressed in favour of its continued fight against the non-genuine ink business and the multiple measures taken recently to curb the sale of counterfeit bottles.  To protect the rights of its customers, Police authorities conducted a series of raids in Mumbai, Tirupati, and Chennai recently, where operatives had generated information about fixers involved in filling, bottling, packaging and distributing counterfeit Epson ink.  In an effort to send a strong message of Zero tolerance towards the sale of fake cartridges, the police in different parts of the country have stepped up their cooperation and efforts to arrest and terminate such practices.

On the basis of the information shared by Epson vigilance team, the Mumbai police raided the premises of a dealer in a swift and well-coordinated action on 4^th October. The dealer in Kalbadevi area of Mumbai was engaged in packaging of counterfeit Epson ink bottles for various printer models and was supplying those counterfeit packed Epson ink bottles to various retailers in Mumbai and in other cities. The police seized 1773 counterfeit ink bottles, 4110 empty bottles with Epson trademark, 10342 pieces of barcode stickers, 30200 ink bottle wrappers & stickers of Epson and 215 litres of inks from Mumbai. In terms of quantity of seized counterfeit materials, this is one of the biggest raid actions done so far.

Similar raids were carried out by Chennai Police on 15^th October & 18^th November in the city.  Police conducted raids in T. Nagar and Saidapet area and successfully seized counterfeit products of Epson in large quantity. The owners of the units were arrested for manufacturing and supplying counterfeit Epson Ink bottles. Nearly 500 Ink bottles with the mark “Epson” were seized along with other printing materials and machines used by this business for making counterfeit Epson ink bottles. They also seized 2729 Epson Ink Bottle labels from the dealers. 

In July 2016, Tirupati Police had conducted a raid in a retail Shop in TTD Complex, Prakasham Road and seized the counterfeit ink bottles. A seizure memo and FIR has been registered against the owner of the business.

A spokesperson at Seiko Epson Corporation said “We view the infringement of our patents very seriously and counterfeiting would be the most important of these. We will continue to fight against those that inappropriately use Epson’s patented technology. We would like to extend special accolades for Mumbai, Chennai & Tirupati police force in successfully conducting these counterfeit raids. Maintaining high standards of corporate ethics while encouraging everyone to respect the law is the paramount objective at Epson”.

This is to further safeguard its interests and to defend the business of its authorised dealers. This practice will also act as a constraint to the manufacturers and dealers that engage in this offence.