As mentioned in the March partner newsletter, we had our first successful counterfeit consumables raid in the United Arab Emirates. We just completed our second successful raid of a counterfeiting operation connected to the first counterfeiter. Last year, regional sales teams found suspected counterfeit consumables during engagements with an end-user in UAE. The supplier was identified as ATAD International General Trading LLC, a Dubai-based company. The Hypertherm Associates Intellectual Property (IP) Team conducted the appropriate analysis, and all consumables were confirmed to be counterfeit.
The IP Team proceeded with immediate criminal action and worked with the Dubai police to conduct a raid. On March 2, 2023, we successfully conducted the raid action at the Shams Al Amber showroom. Just like during the last raid, hundreds of consumables were seized during the raid action. After the investigation by the police, along with other supporting evidence, the case will be transferred to the Public Prosecution for further inquiry and later to the Court for adjudication. It typically takes 8-18 months for a court judgement to be handed down in such criminal cases.
During the seizure of the goods, the representative of ATAD admitted that they were purchasing counterfeit consumables from Quest Global, the company who owns the showroom, Shams Al Amber, who we raided last month. Quest Global and Shams Al Amber have the same owner. Because there was no evidence of the physical presence of Quest Global, this company was not initially included as part of the criminal case. But now, our IP Team is working on including Quest Global as part of the same criminal case.
We will keep you posted on all our raid activity and if you suspect counterfeit products and need help verifying whether the consumables are genuine, please visit our website: www.hypertherm.com/reportcounterfeit