As a result of operative-searching and investigative activities carried out by the representatives of Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, in coordination with the General Prosecutor’s Office, citizens of Georgia - G.A. and F.D. were detained on the fact of manufacturing and unlawful usage of another person’s trademark in large quantities, by prior agreement as a group.

Investigation determined that the accused persons, in order to receive material benefit unlawfully, had set up an illicit factory in Tbilisi, where they systematically produced mainly confectionery and coffee products, which they later on unlawfully labeled and sold under the trademarks “Raffaello” and “Jacobs Monarch”.

As a result of investigative activities, more than 10 000 units of illegally marked single-serve coffee bearing the trademarks of “Jacobs Monarch” and more than 2 400 units of illegally marked confectionery bearing the trademarks of “Raffaello”, prepared for sale, were seized.

Additionally, as a result of the search, illegally marked strips bearing the trademarks of “Jacobs Monarch” and “Carte Noire”, expired confectionery products branded as “Kinder Schokolade”, packaging boxes of “Jacobs Monarch” and “Raffaello”, molds, stamps, and technical equipment intended for the packaging and manufacturing of the abovementioned products were detected and seized. Investigative and operative activities are being carried out to identify and expose other individuals involved in the abovementioned crime, as well as to locate the places where these products had been sold.

Investigation is underway under the third part of Article 196 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which as a type of sentence, envisages imprisonment from three to five years.