NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) Fake merch for the Drake tour can be seized and bootleggers can be fined up to $5,000, a judge has ruled.
Drake and Live Nation are cracking down on bootleg merch vendors and a judge has signed off on a motion filed by Live Nation that gives police the right to confiscate bootleg merchandise outside of Drake’s concerts, according to The Blast.
“Typically, a ‘core’ group of bootleggers will follow a successful concert tour of a performer having the stature of the Artist,” Live Nation said. “The pattern is for the same bootleggers or their merchandise to reappear from one venue to the next. Typically, prior to a concert, these defendants appear, offering for sale infringing, inferior merchandise, particularly T-shirts, bearing the names and likenesses of the appearing performer.”
Live Nation added. “This illegal merchandise seriously impairs sales of authentic merchandise within the arenas, particularly because most of the infringing merchandise is sold prior to the concert. Thus, each of the unauthorized sales represents a lost sale and lost income to the Plaintiff.”
In their request, Live Nation even included photos of people selling shirts outside of the concerts.
When apprehended, bootleggers frequently refuse to identify themselves or sometimes provide fictitious names and addresses, Live Nation said.
The judge signed off on the order allowing police to seize merchandise and make the bootleggers pay $5,000 bonds.
