The Patent Office of Republic of Bulgaria, through its three officers authorized to identify infringements, committed numerous inspections throughout the country for the first nine months of the year. The inspections were done in accordance with the Office obligations to provide administrative and penal protection of the rights arising from the registered trademarks and industrial designs. In the past two weeks, officials from the Patent Office and Ministry of Interior Affairs carried out inspections in the shopping network on the territory of Sofia, Plovdiv, Svilengrad, Pleven, Vratsa, Kyustendil and Samokov.
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During the last nine months of 2015, as a result from the active work of the officers of Legal provision department of the Bulgarian Patent Office, 188 acts for administrative violation under art.81 of the Law on Trademarks and Geographical Indications and art.65 of the Law on Utility Models were issued and 152 penal orders were enacted, that impose to the infringers sanction provided by the law. The inspections found frequent infringements of the following trademarks: Lacoste, Puma, Armani, D & G, Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss, Bulgari, Adidas, Jean Paul Gaultier, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Michael Kors. With protocols for the seizure and retention of evidence, officials from the Patent office seized goods subject to forfeiture in favour of the state – over 94200, mainly clothing, shoes, handbags, perfumes, mobile phones and accessories, watches, building materials, food and dietary supplements.
The Ministry of Interior Affairs and Customs agency are actively supported when carrying out inspections under their signals to prevent and identify crimes related to the manufacture, storage and distribution of counterfeit goods, bearing signs identical or similar to registered trademarks, which constitutes a violation under art. 172 „b“of the Criminal Code.”
It must be emphasized that world famous brands Lacoste, Puma, Armani, D & G, Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss, Bulgari, Adidas, Jean Paul Gaultier, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Michael Kors do not make the efforts and do not work with professional teams to stop the imitation of their trademarks in Bulgaria for years. Surprisingly, these big trademark owners continuously trust teams that do not have direct presence in the country or only report subscription budgets transferring their obligations to the administrative authorities supposedly in 
order to reduce direct costs. As a result, the well-intentioned consumers loyal to brand, suffer.
European consumers are asking how long the world famous brand holders will abuse their devotion to the brand.
