Every year 700,000 units are imported
Upon an appeal from the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based electronics devises company, EUROSTAR Group, local security forces raided shops and warehouses suspected of importing counterfeited and pirated electronics devises. Following the raid on Thursday, 3,000 fake satellite dishes have been confiscated and three prominent importers and distributes have been apprehended at the county’s largest market place—Mercato.
Upended by the expanding counterfeited EUROSTAR products in Ethiopia, representatives of the company have been involved in the raids aiding police officers, Office of the Intellectual Property Rights, the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA) to put a stop to illegal trade.
Junaid I. Khan, overseas satellite sales manager at the EUROSTAR Group told The Reporter that during the raid two major warehouses have been identified as the major sources of local distributions. According to Khan, roughly 15,000 to 20,000 units of Satellite dishes and receivers have been seized in the two warehouses. One major importer and two local distributors have so far been under police custody, he said. The importer is believed to be involved in importing four types of counterfeited EUROSTAR dishes.
Explaining the damages caused by the pirated products, Khan claimed that the market share of the company in Ethiopia has sharply declined to 30 percent currently from where it was last year (90 percent share).
“The level of damages it has created for our brand is infinite. Finally, we are glad that government agencies have supported us to conduct this raid which would gradually stop the imports of fake duplicate of our product,” Khan said.
Referring to the statistics of ERCA, between 2013 and 2016, some 700,000 units of fake satellite dishes and receivers are annually imported to the Ethiopia. Khan also noted that EUROSTAR is an intellectually protected trademark in the country since 2009.
The EUROSTAR Group has been well entrenched across 50 countries providing technological and non-technological products for consumers’ markets. Twenty years since establishment, EUROSTAR is currently associated with smartphones, mobiles, tablets and smart devices, consumer electronics, e-commerce, electronic multimedia and pay TV, convergent technologies andtendering LED lighting businesses. From non-technological business portfolio point of view, the group company remains active in the fast moving consumer goods trading and commodities, business development and real estate sectors.
