ZAMBIA Bureau of Standards (ZABS) threatens to prosecute people manufacturing and selling counterfeit soccer jerseys bearing the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) logo. ZAMBIA Bureau of Standards (ZABS) has condemned the manufacturing and selling of counterfeit soccer jerseys bearing the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) logo.
ZABS Public Relations Officer, Ms. Dingase Makumba told Lusaka Star in an interview that companies manufacturing fake Zambia National Soccer Team jerseys with the FAZ logo would be prosecuted once they were found doing so.
Ms. Makumba said it is against the Zambian laws to manufacture anything carrying an organization's logo without permission from the relevant authorities.
“According to the Copyright and Performance Act 44 of 1998, Cap 406, no person or company is allowed to use another organisation's intellectual property, which includes logos in this case, without authorization from the owner of the property. It is therefore wrong for people to manufacture counterfeit FAZ soccer jerseys when they have not been allowed by FAZ,” she said.
She urged FAZ to take legal action against anyone found selling counterfeit soccer jerseys carrying the FAZ logo.
Ms. Makumba noted that most vendors decided to add the FAZ logo to the counterfeit jerseys because the public preferred jerseys which had the logo.
She however stated that ZABS had received little help from the Zambia Police Service in curbing counterfeit products on the Zambian market because the police lack financial resources.
“As ZABS, we do report perpetrators of counterfeit products to the Zambia Police service. However, it is very difficult for them to arrest people who are behind these acts as the police do not have sufficient funds to carry out these duties,” Ms. Makumba said.
Ms. Makumba further urged people in the country to stop buying counterfeit products including the fake soccer jerseys as doing so was encouraging the people who manufacture these products to continue.
Gregory Chilekwa, a vendor who sells counterfeit soccer jerseys at Lusaka's town center told the Lusaka Star that FAZ should allow people to use their logo on counterfeit National team jerseys because not every Zambian can afford to buy original jerseys.
Meanwhile, FAZ Communications Officer, Mr. Erick Mwanza told the Lusaka Star that the association had a list of companies that it had granted permission to use the FAZ logo on some products including soccer jerseys.
Mr. Mwanza however stated that the soccer jerseys which were sold by street vendors were fake and were manufactured by companies that had not been authorized by FAZ to use the official FAZ logo.
He said FAZ was working with the Zambia Police Service to find out which companies were using the FAZ logo on counterfeit soccer jerseys, but stated that he could not reveal how they would carry out their investigations as these plans have not been finalized.
Mr. Mwanza called on members of the public to help in the fight against piracy by not buying counterfeit products including counterfeit jerseys.