Fake gadget seller jailed A rogue Hampshire internet trader who sold fake versions of headphones and other gadgets from top brands including Sennheiser and Monster has been jailed. Michael Reeder, 35, was convicted by a jury at Portsmouth Crown Court of 10 offences of possessing fake goods and three charges of selling counterfeit products. The charges were brought after Portsmouth City Council’s trading standards officers raided his premises on two occasions in 2011 and seized more than 2,000 items including fake Monster, Sennheiser and Sony headphones, counterfeit Apple accessories, plus counterfeit iPhone cases, PlayStation controllers and Wii accessories. The court heard that Reeder was set to have gained ¡ê168,000 if he had sold all of the items which he was selling at about 100% mark-up on the price he paid for them from his unauthorised supplier in China. The father of two young children was originally selling the items through his own website called Odds and Pods but after he was subjected to the first raid, he changed premises and website to one called Nice Cans. His victims included a Bristol school which ordered a batch of Sennheiser headphones, a student who bought fake Monster Beats headphones and a student who bought fake Nintendo Wii controllers. Reeder’s illegal trading was initially discovered after customers complained of the poor goods they had received which led to the first raid in February 2011. He later told trading standards that he had ceased trading but a seizure at East Midlands Airport in August 2011 revealed that he was still active. Sentencing Reeder to two and a half years in prison and ordering the destruction of the fake stock, the judge, Recorder Phillipa Whipple QC, said: ”This is a fraud on ordinary customers, ordinary members of the public who paid for things they did not get. ”Secondly, the manufacturers are entitled to protection for their intellectual property rights and they were too stolen from.” Tim Sparkes, defending, said that Reeder, of Carbis Close, Portsmouth, had set up his business after he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident in 2002 which left him with a disabled right arm. He said: ”He wanted to prove he could do anything that other people could do and do it even better. He wanted to prove to himself and his wife and the wider community that he could do well in business.” He added: ”His view of life now in what he has done is that he is not only angry at himself, he wishes to apologise.” Peter May, sales and marketing director at Sennheiser UK, said: ”Counterfeiting is something we take extremely seriously because it hurts unwitting and innocent consumers. ”We’ve worked closely with Portsmouth Trading Standards for some time on this case because we knew just how significant a counterfeit trader Mr Reeder was – at one point we estimated that almost 80% of all the complaints we received were due to the fake products he was selling illegally under our brand name. ”We’re passionate about delivering fantastic products to consumers which is why we introduced an authorised dealer network earlier this month to combat this counterfeiting issue, supporting the genuine sellers of our headphones and giving even greater confidence to consumers when they make their purchase.” Peter Emmett, Trading Standards Manager at Portsmouth City Council, said: ”This has been the most complex and difficult investigation ever undertaken by our team, producing more than 2,000 pages of evidence. ”We are very satisfied that Mr Reeder has been convicted for his criminal behaviour and we’ll now be asking the court to order refunds for customers who gave statements about the fakes they purchased and who were never given their money back.” A Sennhiser spokeswoman said that the brand’s authorised dealer network was being rolled out across Europe to ensure only authorised partners and distributors could purchase products from Sennheiser for sale to consumers. She added: ”Sennheiser has also introduced a series of identification technologies on its packaging and products to protect customers against fakes. Each product comes with a unique security label as well as a QR code on the packaging, which consumers can scan to confirm their product’s authenticity online.” For more information, please visit china gadgets happyed01466