After two years of fighting counterfeiters in Taiwan and Europe, bike components manufacturer Full Speed Ahead took its fight public in the United States by warning customers of the growing number of fake FSA products emerging on eBay and other online marketplaces.
The statement urged consumers to only buy Full Speed Ahead products from bicycle retail stores, or authorized online retailers and that bike shops only buy Full Speed Ahead products from their recognized bicycle parts distributors, and bicycle brand partners.
Below are other excerpts from the statement detailing the progress of FSA's investigation into counterfeiting over the last two years.
Since 2009, Full Speed Ahead (FSA) has been actively and aggressively pursuing manufacturers and re-sellers of counterfeit FSA branded products. Counterfeit parts originating in China pose a pervasive safety problem for the bicycle industry as such parts fail to meet industry quality standards in addition to our strict manufacturing specifications, and are untested and made of inferior materials.
It came to the attention of Tien Hsin Industries Co., Ltd., the Taiwan-based manufacturer of FSA branded products, that certain bicycle retail stores in Taiwan were selling counterfeit FSA goods. Tien Hsin contracted private investigators who staked out the retailers, documented deliveries of counterfeit goods, followed the delivery trucks to the warehouses, and eventually to the manufacturers, and delivered complete documentation to Tien Hsin.
Armed with this evidence, Tien Hsin was able to engage the Taiwan police, and gain trademark infringement convictions in Taiwan court of the retailers, re-sellers, and manufacturers, through trademark infringement. The re-sellers and manufacturers either paid restitution, or were sentenced to time in jail for their illegal activities.
Since that time, counterfeit copies of some FSA products have begun to find their way into the markets in Europe and the USA.
FSA S.R.L., the European distributor based in Busnago, Italy, found counterfeit parts listed on eBay, and other web based retailers. By following the paper trail to the sellers, FSA S.R.L., engaged the Financial Police branch of the Italian customs (La Guardia di Finanzia), who conducted several well publicized raids on the premises of the sellers, and seized numerous counterfeit goods, including wheels, handlebars, stems, and seatposts. These sellers were prosecuted under trademark infringement laws, and suffered either serious financial penalties, or incarceration.
In the following months, both FSA S.R.L., and Full Speed Ahead, Inc., the North America distributor based in Washington State, received emails from consumers regarding products they had purchased through eBay, which had clear specification differences from legitimate FSA products. Investigation of these products led back to the same kinds of counterfeit goods that were originally found in the police raids in Italy and Taiwan.
Since the primary avenue of sales for these counterfeit goods has been through online marketplaces, like eBay, both FSA S.R.L., and Full Speed Ahead, Inc. have registered our products with the eBay 'Vero' program, which allows companies or individuals who own trademarks or patents to help police their product listings. The program allows enrolled members to simply email eBay with document of the counterfeit good listing, and within a few hours eBay will remove the listing.
Using the Vero program is an important tool, but requires a huge amount of time and vigilance on the part of the trademark owner to seek out the offending listings. Due to the proliferation of sellers on eBay and other online marketplaces, and the difficulty of policing this issue on our own, FSA has chosen to make this public statement regarding the counterfeit goods problem.
Full Speed Ahead is committed to pursuing and litigating any entity that knowingly or unknowingly sells, distributes, or manufacturers counterfeit goods which infringe our trademarks, designs, or patents to the full extent of the law.
Full Speed Ahead is committed to pursuing and litigating any entity that knowingly or unknowingly sells, distributes, or manufacturers counterfeit goods which infringe our trademarks, designs, or patents to the full extent of the law.
Like many of our co-manufacturers in the industry, we were surprised when the counterfeit parts in volume arrived on the market. Now that this subject has raised its ugly head, we will do all that we can to stop the demand, production, and distribution of these parts.
