Westminster City Council’s Trading Standards has seized £9,500 worth of counterfeit Paddington Bear goods during raids on Oxford Street. The goods included t-shirts, tote bags, fridge magnets and shot glasses bearing the famous Paddington Bear and were found across nine shops in the city’s most famous shopping street.
The raid came as a part of Westminster City Council’s efforts to eradicate “unscrupulous businesses” on Oxford Street that sell counterfeit goods and American sweets containing banned ingredients. The leader of Westminster City Council stated that “big retail names are making a welcome return to Oxford Street and rogue traders have been a blemish on the area for too long.”
Representatives from Surelock, acting on behalf of Paddington & Co, accompanied the council’s officers on the raid in order to help identify which products featured trade marks and copyrighted material which were owned by Paddington & Co. The Managing Director of Surelock stated that carrying out enforcement action at so many premises in one day was unprecedented.
The new Paddington film, “Paddington in Peru”, is due to be released in the UK on 8 November 2024. It is likely that Paddington & Co are making attempts to wash out as many counterfeit Paddington goods as possible before the release to make sure they are able to maximise the sale of their own genuine goods.
If you have any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniels Law on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.
