NFL Wins Right to Seize Bogus Bowl Souvenirs
Moving to stop the flow of counterfeit Super Bowl merchandise in San Diego County, a Superior Court judge Wednesday granted National Football League Properties Inc. the authority to seize bogus items--consisting of a variety of unlicensed merchandise bearing the Super Bowl XXII logo as well as Redskins and Broncos emblems.
Within hours after being given both a temporary restraining order and a seizure order, the NFL moved to confiscate products from a group of vendors who have been selling unlicensed caps, T-shirts, sweat shirts and other items in San Diego.
The orders, granted by Judge Edward Butler, a justice on the 4th District Court of Appeal who is temporarily sitting as a Superior Court judge, give the NFL its best weapon against the counterfeiters: the ability to take bogus merchandise off the street days before the Super Bowl, thus depriving the sellers of their ability to make money.
John Flood, NFL Properties director of legal and business affairs, said the orders are, in essence, the only way the league can protect the public from inferior merchandise because officially licensed NFL products are manufactured according to strict quality controls.
The league’s reliance on court-ordered seizures has become common practice, Flood said, noting that this is the sixth consecutive Super Bowl the NFL has received such authority. In the last four years, he said, the retail street value of confiscated goods has ranged from $300,000 to $500,000, and San Diego appears no different--with one potentially important exception.
Because of the city’s closeness to Mexico, where so-called “knock off” items are common, NFL Properties is “particularly concerned”--so much so, Flood said, that it has alerted U.S. Customs officials to be watchful for the movement of unlicensed merchandise. So far, though, the league’s fears haven’t been realized, Flood said, noting it appears that even goods being sold in Tijuana have the league’s trademark.
While investigators for NFL Properties have been in town for about two weeks, in some cases buying unlicensed merchandise to document cases against vendors, the NFL waited until Tuesday to ask for the seizure order. By the time the Super Bowl is played Sunday, Flood estimates that the league will have up to 250 investigators checking products in San Diego.
Accompanied by Police
Under the terms of the order, the NFL investigators will be accompanied by a San Diego police officer each time counterfeit items are seized. The two-man teams will concentrate on places where Super Bowl paraphernalia is being sold, including tourist attractions, hotels and the stadium.
In most cases, Flood explained, the league is battling large-scale, organized “professionals” who travel from one sports event to another, “with the the Super Bowl the granddaddy.”
Once the goods are seized, the league holds them until there is a court hearing. Often, according to the NFL’s lawyers, the counterfeit vendors don’t show up for the hearing and the merchandise is donated to local charities.
Named as the first vendors to have their goods seized were Steven G. Tiersten, Geoff Martin, Lloyd Lee, Johnny DeVito and Richard Lieber. Flood was reluctant to specify where the vendors were selling the unlicensed merchandise, saying that the NFL would probably still be trying to hunt down some of the vendors today.
