So do criminals seeking to sell counterfeit sports memorabilia and fake autographs, the NHL and police warned Tuesday. Mary Sotis, vice president of legal affairs for NHL Enterprises, said consumers should watch out for cheap imitations of NHL replica jerseys and souvenir T-shirts during the weekend of All Star festivities that culminate with Sunday's game at the Air Canada Center. The NHL licenses authentic goods that bear trademarked logos and joins other sports leagues in the Coalition to Advance the Protection of Sports Logos, known as CAPS, to combat counterfeiters. She said criminal networks use printing plants to manufacture the lower quality goods, and some even put on stamps and tags intended to fool buyers into thinking the articles are authentic.
Counterfeiters go where excitement is high.
An NHL All Star Game in a Canadian city generates a lot of excitement. The annual All Star weekend events, such as the NHL skills competition and an old-timers game, expect capacity crowds, with people even getting tickets for All Star practices. The NHL obtained a court order in Ontario allowing it to seize any counterfeit material it finds, Sotis said. Detecting the counterfeits is difficult, she said, and consumers should make sure the goods they buy have proper NHL approved labels and the special hologram that verifies authenticity. Another form of fraud involves phony autographs on photos of players that are sold on Internet auction sites, said Det.