The fraud with Dutch Chamber of Commerce look alike invoices has been stopped. End of 2008, eight companies and persons sent invoices that were highly similar to the real ones. Confusion everywhere. On 9 april the Rotterdam Court ordered these parties to stop pretending to be the Chamber of Commerce. Their lawyer's defence - it should have been a publicity stunt - could, in my view, hardly be taken seriously. This could even be pursued by criminal law. In December the bank account mentioned on the confusing invoices (payment on which was requested) was immediately frozen by a court order. A series of letters still with mail company Sandd was taken in custody, and domain name institute SIDN inactivated the consusing domains (including .nl domains mentioning the Dutch despription of 'my chamber of commerce' and 'traderegister online'). A well organised action prevented further damage. Remarkable was that Sandd, a third party, received a direct court order as well. It is good that this fraud has been stopped. That is what trademark and tradename law is all about. I expect that the responsible parties shall, in the end, bear the costs of all actions taken.
Maarten Haak, tradename lawyer
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office Emerald House Jozef Israëlskade 48-G Amsterdam, the Netherlands t +31 (0)20 - 305 3066 www.hoogenhaak.nl |
post PO Box 76780 1070 KB Amsterdam e info@hoogenhaak.nl f +31 (0)20 - 305 3069 chamber of commerce 34314579 |
The fraud with Dutch Chamber of Commerce look alike invoices has been stopped. End of 2008, eight companies and persons sent invoices that were highly similar to the real ones. Confusion everywhere. On 9 april the Rotterdam Court ordered these parties to stop pretending to be the Chamber of Commerce. Their lawyer's defence - it should have been a publicity stunt - could, in my view, hardly be taken seriously. This could even be pursued by criminal law. In December the bank account mentioned on the confusing invoices (payment on which was requested) was immediately frozen by a court order. A series of letters still with mail company Sandd was taken in custody, and domain name institute SIDN inactivated the consusing domains (including .nl domains mentioning the Dutch despription of 'my chamber of commerce' and 'traderegister online'). A well organised action prevented further damage. Remarkable was that Sandd, a third party, received a direct court order as well. It is good that this fraud has been stopped. That is what trademark and tradename law is all about. I expect that the responsible parties shall, in the end, bear the costs of all actions taken.
Maarten Haak, tradename lawyer