Winterland, Nintendo Catch Thieves in Act

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Nov 10, 2099 Source: Winterland - Press Release Submitted By: Monday November 8, 8:04 am Eastern Time Company Press Release Pokemon, Backstreet Boys, `N Sync and Ricky Martin Join Forces Against Fake Merchandise NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 8, 1999--Winterland and Nintendo of America Inc. today announced more than 10,000 counterfeit products were seized in the past week by court-authorized investigators during 29 raids of New York City retailers. The raids were part of a joint effort stemming from a complaint filed on behalf of Winterland, a leading music and entertainment affinity merchandiser, and Nintendo of America Inc. Also named in the complaint were Winterland clients: the tremendously popular `N Sync and Backstreet Boys, Latin sensation Ricky Martin and Nintendo's Pokemon franchise. Seized in the raids were counterfeit Pokemon products, such as t-shirts, trading cards, plush toys and stickers, and counterfeit `N Sync, Backstreet Boys and Ricky Martin t-shirts. Winterland has also secured National, Multi-District injunctions and Orders of Seizure for these artists in order to protect the sale of legitimate merchandise at their live concerts. Pokemon-related products accounted for more than 8,000 of the seized items, adding to the more than $17 million of counterfeit Pokemon products seized in the past six months. ``The selling of counterfeit merchandise will not be tolerated by Nintendo or its licensees,'' says Jodi Daugherty, Manager, Anti-Piracy, Nintendo of America. ``Everyone loses with pirated products: businesses suffer tarnished reputations, licensees lose large financial investments, and consumers get sub-standard quality. This effort is a perfect example of how intellectual property owners can work together to stamp out piracy.'' ``Winterland always takes a hard line against piracy and works diligently to protect its customers, artists and licensees,'' says Craig Walsey, vice president, Business and Legal Affairs, Winterland. ``These actions are a major part of the fight against illegal and unauthorized goods and will continue as long as the piracy of our products exists.'' The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleged nine counts including federal and New York statutory copyright infringement claims, trademark violations, anti-dilution claims and unfair competition claims. Nintendo and Winterland have requested that the court: (1) issue a ``cease and desist'' order to all named defendants; (2) order defendants to purge their illegal profits and ill-gotten gains; and (3) require the defendants to pay court costs and reasonable attorney's fees as well as actual, special, general, statutory, and treble damages potentially exceeding several hundred thousand dollars. Winterland, based in San Leandro, Calif., was founded in 1972 by rock music promoter Bill Graham. The legendary company is a leading merchandiser of music and entertainment affinity products. Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, is the acknowledged worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment. To date, Nintendo has sold more than one billion video games worldwide, has created such industry icons as Mario® and Donkey Kong and launched franchises like The Legend of Zelda® and Pokemon(TM). Nintendo manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home video game systems, including Nintendo 64 and Game Boy -- the world's best-selling video game system. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in North America. For more information about Pokemon or any other Nintendo product, visit the company's web site at www.nintendo.com or the official Pokemon web site at www.pokemon.com. Contact: Golin/Harris Reilly Brennan, 213/623-4200 Eileen Tanner, 509/628-1993 OR Winterland 1-800-FOR-ROCK Comment on this item. Next Item: "Standing Room Only" Video Information from Amazon Prev Item: LAUNCH.COM Creates the 'Online Music Group' With Leading Music Websites