PB Supplies Pty Ltd and Postage Meter Supplies and associated individuals had contravened the Trade Practices Act 1974 over claims about the qualities of their products and their relationship with customers, the Federal Court has found.
The court has declared that PB Supplies and Postage Meter Supplies breached the Act by:
- representing that they were an authorised representative of Pitney Bowes Australia Ltd, when they were not
- representing that certain ink cartridges they supplied were genuine Pitney Bowes cartridges and contained fluorescent ink in accordance with Australia Post standards, when they did not, and
- representing a pre-existing relationship with certain customers they contacted who had a Pitney Bowes franking machine or postage meter when they did not have such a relationship.
The court declared that Mohamd Homsi, Jodie Homsi, Mahmoud Matar and Majed Homsi were all knowingly concerned in the conduct.
It granted injunctions against the companies and individuals and ordered that existing customers be advised of the court action.
The litigation was initiated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and with the other parties, agreed to settle the proceedings.
"It is important for businesses to be confident that the products they are purchasing are genuine when represented as genuine and can be relied upon to perform as expected," ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said.