 At
least four persons were arrested and two embossing machines were sealed.
The various units raided include- Vaishali Screen Printer based in
Mumbai Central, Nice Printer in Madan Pura, T M Printers and New Star
Enterprises in Byculla and Ashok Agency in Dadar.
Mattel Toys India Ltd. MD Sanjay Luthra said, "Mattel, Inc.
and its Indian subsidiary and genuine licensees were losing millions
of rupees in revenue, apart from the loss to the exchequer. The
cost of protecting their intellectual property rights is part of
the cost of doing business in India. This is the first raid that
we have conducted in four years and we will be taking action on
more such outfits. Mattel will continue to be actively engaged in
the fight against product counterfeiting and thereby maintain a
uniform quality control over their products the world over."
Commenting on the case, IPR consultant Pravin Anand said, "In
the toy industry, this is a first of its kind and a rare seizure
of such a high magnitude. This is an effort on the part of Mattel
Toys to create awareness and educate the market and masses in India
on their legitimate Intellectual Property Rights and the adverse
consequences of allowing piracy- in all forms- to exist. Those involved
in these kinds of illegal activities/ operations would face the
full might of the law."
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The
raid was conducted against these outfits pursuant to obtaining the
Magistrate's order passed against unknown persons for acts of blatant
piracy. With the cooperative efforts of the police force, the raid
on the premises resulted in the seizure of 16,000 Barbie stickers,
60 T-shirts, 18 printing screens, and 1100 swatches bearing the impugned
trade mark Barbie, its logo and illegal impersonations of Barbie.
These swatches were to be used for a wide gamut of goods ranging from
bags, kits, travel kits and stationery, among other things. 
