A court today ordered the destruction of some 6,800 pairs of counterfeit Adidas trainers which were seized by the Customs Department in August. The request was made by the German sportswear company, represented by lawyer Antoine Camilleri.

Adidas had claimed its intellectual property rights were breached by the consignment of the shoes that arrived in Malta on 5 August on board the MV CMA-CGM MEDEA. According to the manifest, the shoes, bearing the three-stripe “trefoil device,” had been shipped from Algeria by Good Promotion Enterprise Ltd. They were to be re-exported to EU countries.

The container had been inspected by customs officers, who suspected that the merchandise was not genuine. Tests proved them right. The defendants pleaded ignorance

Dr Camilleri asked the court to declare the items to be in contravention of intellectual property laws as well as EU Trade Mark registrations and to order their destruction.

Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti, presiding over the First Hall of the Civil Court, said the documents submitted with the court application had confirmed the plaintiff's allegations. The court instructed the Customs Department to destroy the items within 90 days of the sentence. No compensation is to be given to the defendants, who were also ordered to pay all costs related to the transport, storage and destruction of the fake trainers.