Dartford woman fined for selling 'trademarked' pop star T-shirts
Pop group One Direction featured on T-shirts sold by
Tina McGregor
by Thom Morris
A woman who sold T-shirts with the words "Justin Bieber" on them
has been fined by magistrates after being told his name is
trademarked.
Tina McGregor, 52, of Heath Road, Dartford, appeared in court
for 10 offences around selling hoodies and T-shirts with
trademarked material – of teen pop star Justin Bieber, boy band
JLS, teeny-boppers One Direction and stationery sensation Hello
Kitty.
The offences, which she admitted, included selling the items in
her shop Occasions at Kiddys Kingdom in the Orchard Shopping
Centre, Dartford, and on internet auction site eBay.
Myles Gibbons, prosecuting, said: "On September 9, 2011, a
representative of JLS noted that the store was offering JLS
garments but they weren't aware that they'd been given
permission.
"They flagged it up to Trading Standards which investigated and
included visiting the store and also the website
KiddysKingdom.co.uk which contained the same sort of items.
"The defendant was offering the items for sale on eBay and there
were small numbers found in the store.
.jpg "JLS")
Tina McGregor was fined
for selling T-shirts of groups including JLS
"She acknowledged that she’d received advice as the T-shirts
included the JLS logo and given advice about what trademarks she
could use.
"She wasn't responsible for the printing herself and there’s no
history whatsoever and she has been cooperative."
Michelle Pibworth, defending, said: "There is a degree of
naivety and ignorance.
"She didn’t believe she was doing anything wrong and when she
found out she immediately closed down that aspect of her business
and everything was immediately removed.
"There's been no evidence that she's done anything since. As
soon as she was told she couldn’t sell items, she got rid of
them."
Chairman of the bench Michael Wenban said for each of the
charges, McGregor would be fined £150 on top of the costs of the
Trading Standards investigation of £1,420 – meaning she owes £2,920
in total. The debt is to be paid off at £150 a month.
09/01/13