David Thomas, from Sarnau, Ceredigion, has been sentenced to twenty months in prison suspended for eighteen months after pleading guilty to charges under the Trade Marks Act 1994 of producing and selling counterfeit DVD’s.
David Robert Thomas, 47, appeared before at Swansea Crown Court on Monday 11 November 2024, following a successful case brought by Ceredigion County Council Public Protection’s Trading Standards Service.
The Court heard how David Thomas, during the time of the offences, had been making and selling counterfeit DVD’s under the brand names belonging to Netflix, Amazon Technologies, Disney Enterprises, Sony, and Universal City Studios LLC without the consent of the companies in question for a number of years. He had set up seven separate websites, had used a number of bank and PayPal accounts including those of his family members, and had created for himself a sophisticated online home business producing and selling counterfeit DVD’s.
When determining sentence, Judge Richards took into consideration the market value of the equivalent genuine goods that Mr Thomas had sold, estimated at £150,000, the sophisticated nature of his business set-up but also his previous clean character and guilty plea.
Mr Thomas was sentenced to twenty months in prison suspended for eighteen months, with a 4-month Curfew Requirement (electronic tagging), and fifteen Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days.
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 confiscation and forfeiture proceedings against Mr Thomas will now commence. The purpose of such proceedings is to recover the financial benefit that Mr Thomas has obtained from his criminal activity.
Ceredigion County Council Cabinet Member for Public Protection, Councillor Matthew Vaux, said: “Counterfeiting is often thought of as a victimless crime but when someone sells fake goods they harm the local economy by undermining legitimate retail businesses and traders, who pay taxes and provide genuine jobs for people. This result sends out a clear message that the sale of counterfeit goods will not be tolerated in our county and that we will not hesitate to take enforcement action against any trader found doing so.”
