A federal judge in the Southern District of New York on Wednesday ordered counterfeit sellers selling counterfeit Knicks and Rangers clothing outside Madison Square Garden to stop immediately and appear in court. according to a report from Front Office Sports. Order arrives two days after MSG Sports filed a complaint against sellers for intellectual property reasons.
In its lawsuit against the sellers who sold counterfeit merchandise, MSG Sports claimed that the sellers used their intellectual property and trademarks for their own commercial gain, did not have the proper permits and had also been “aggressive and belligerent towards pedestrians » outside Madison Square. Garden, while creating security problems due to increased crowds before and after matches. MSG Sports had asked the court to allow state and local police and MSG security to seize and impound counterfeit merchandise, while asserting that they were entitled to damages treble of the sellers’ profit.
On Wednesday, Judge Margaret Garnett issued a temporary restraining order against the defendants for the next two weeks, while ordering them to appear in court on February 13. Interestingly, the lawsuit does not name any specific sellers of counterfeit goods or specify how many of them there are. there are, referring to them only as “various John Does, Jane Does and XYZ companies”.
“Counterfeit products are misleading to our fans, and we are pleased that the judge agreed and affirmed our right to protect our brands,” an MSG Sports spokesperson told Front Office Sports.
MSG Sports’ actions continue what has been a crackdown on the sale of counterfeit sporting goods by teams across the country. In April this year, for example, Los Angeles law enforcement seized approximately $140,000 worth of bootleg Lakers merchandise being sold by sellers outside of Crypto.com Arena.
