HP anti-counterfeit team harass Delhi dealers, conducts raid

Beginning 10th April 2013, HP Ant-Counterfeit team started raiding various Consumable and Media dealers across Delhi and detained some partners with their stocks. It has been reported such raids were done in an arbitrary fashion wherein No procedure whatsoever was followed by the raiding team.

It has been reported on April 10th the enforcement team raided various markets Delhi including Ranjit Nagar commercial complex, Bhikaji Cama Place and Trans Yamuna and on the date of 12th April it raided Nehru Place IT complex.

The suffering partners mostly alleged that No proper inventory of material was made as also most also mentioned that their seziure was not authenticated by them or the raiding team by way of signatures thereby giving the raiding team enough lever to manipulate the stocks in any manner they deemed fit. There has been various serious allegations viz. favourism by the raiding Team for very obvious reasons as well as under or over reporting the seized goods.

Also the team never properly identified itself and only relied on their own witnesses and did not take the market witnesses. Any search was over within minutes and the partners with their stocks taken away within minutes without a proper verification for reasons best known to the team, informed Puneet Singhal, president of Computer Media Dealers Association-Delhi.

Under the strongest protest CMDA-Delhi closed the entire markets of Delhi relating to Computer consumables on the 13th April 2013 and handed over a representation regarding harassment to the Delhi Police located at Malviya Nagar. The association has given a written request for clarifications to the MD HP India.

Singhal commented, "We have always stood for all ethical values in business and have always maintained that we condemn counterfeit activity whatsoever in any form. We have always been co-operating with HP and other vendors. However it has been recently noted that upon HP complaint/instructions certain raids have been conducted across Delhi wherein a lot of lapses on the part of the raiding team which included the Delhi Police and HP's representatives have been observed. Our association declared closure of all our markets on 13th April 2013 as a mark of our protest to highlight our sentiment of protest for the procedural lapses on the part of the raiding team which has also resulted in an atmosphere of fear within our channel community as a whole," Singhal highlighted

In this context the association has submitted a memorandum to the Delhi Police and are also exploring all other remedies available with the association to strongly take up this issue of harassment caused to its consumable channel community which was raided upon with procedural lapses.
Similarly condemning the approach of conducting raids by HP team in Nheru place, without taking the local association in confidence, another Delhi based All Delhi Dealers Association (ADCTA) president Mahinder Agarwal said "We encourage ethical business, but such harassment of HP with our market dealers in Nehru Place will not be tolerated as such kind of raids create panic in the market. We are against the system of conducting raids; vendor with the help of association cooperation can jointly alert market against the existence of such players."

Swarn Singh, joint secretary of ADCTA said, "Despite our efforts to reach out to the HP team, the company did not listen. Arresting any partner on the charges of counterfeit without having a concrete evidence is a sheer monopoly of the companies. We had argued with the enforcement team to proof that the seized material is counterfeit or not, they were not able to give us satisfactory response."

Meanwhile, the CMDA association in its letter to HP India has demanded clarification and viewpoint on the following-

1)What are the tests available for an on the spot assessment of Originality of your products namely Toners and Inks besides the Hologram test to confirm the Originality of the products?

2) Was a spot chemical Test conducted by the Raiding Team recently in their Raids?
3) Which are the Independent Labs wherein these Chemical tests can be performed and are any of these Govt Controlled?

4) How does HP view the Self Employment generating Refilling Industry in Legal terms?

5) How does HP view the Compatible Consumable industry in Legal Terms?

6) Do HP products carry Serial nos inside and outside the packings? If yes then why the Whole sellers Bills do not mention the same when the product is sold? If they don't carry Serial numbers then why not?

7) What is HP's Returns Policy for Dealers towards the Un Sold goods like Toner/Ink cartridges which stay on beyond their mentioned Shelf Lives?

8) What is HP's stand on goods Imported thru Parallel Imports or Auctioned out by various Got Agencies like Customs etc?

9)Very reliably why does HP honor the warranty for only three months in the case of Ink Cartridges as against the standard practice of a Year for most products. Also why the products are offered as Replacement given without a Box and how are these Boxes destructed?

10) What is the check HP is keeping on their Replacement Centre that their Empty boxes once they have handed over the Replacement Cartridges are not being misused by the Criminal Elements in the Counterfeit Activity?

11) How frequently has HP been checking their own stocks for Originality as there are reliable Reports that HP's wholesalers are delivering stocks which seem doubtful?

12) Lastly is HP's Authorized Channel allowed to Refill as well as Sell Compatible Toners?

It is be mentinoed that the DQWeek earlier reported (https://www.dqweek.com/hp-intensifies-fight-fake-cartridges-india) that HP India has intensified its approach during January and February 2013, HP announced the seizure of more than 2,200 counterfeit supplies from 54 raids conducted across 22 cities in India. These cities included Jaipur, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Kanpur and others.