Businessman fined for counterfeit engine oil

A Corporate Area businessman was fined for having large quantities of heavy duty oil for sale, which was purported to be genuine engine oil.

Kemar Coke was fined $250,000 or 30 days' imprisonment by Senior Parish Judge Sanchia Burrell following his guilty plea to unauthorised use of the Trademark Act. It was shared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court that police, acting on intelligence, visited a premises said to be Coke's business place where car parts and engine oil were seen. Further search of the premises revealed 262 five-gallon bucket of heavy duty oil in containers labelled with a popular brand of engine oil.

During plea in-mitigation, attorney-at-law Christopher Townsend presented arguments that his client is a new supplier of truck parts, who started his business about three years ago.

"He found a supplier online who gave the products cheaper. I reached out to this supplier and when I asked him certain things, the communication line went dead," Townsend said, adding that his client has been helpful to the police's investigation.

"It seems you were a victim but bad products mash up car engine. Don't do it again, be more careful," Senior Parish Judge Sanchia Burrell urged the businessman.

The prosecutor withdrew the charge of deceptive and misleading conduct against Coke. - T.T.