Berhampur: Odisha Police along with Military Intelligence on Monday claimed to have made a major breakthrough against counterfeit army combat uniform by seizing nearly 500 meters of the uniform in Berhampur district of the state. A spokesperson said that based on the specific inputs received from the Military Intelligence Unit, Gopalpur, Berhampur police seized counterfeit army combat uniforms from a textile shop called 'Ganjam Galaxy' store in Berhampur.
A criminal case was registered at Town Police station under Case no 57/23 us 420/486/63 of Copyright Act and the case is being investigated. According to the spokesperson, the incident came to light after one Rambabu Dangi who works in Army AD College, Gopalpur during his visit to Berhampur noticed that Ganjam Galaxy Store was selling counterfeit army's new digital combat uniform.
The new digital pattern combat uniform was unveiled by the Army on January 15, 2022 and the old uniform is in the process of being replaced. The Army has obtained Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for the design and camouflage patterns for a 10-year period, extendable for another five years. This has been done to prevent unauthorized vendors from manufacturing and selling the combat uniform in the open market, as it was posing a serious security threat for the Indian Army, the spokesperson said.
As per orders, the new uniform has to be sold only in the Army’s unit-run canteens. Due to the IPR, the Army now possesses exclusive rights to the design and can file a 'legal suit' against any unauthorized sale of this design. In the instant case, a total of 488 meters of Combat uniform worth Rs 1,20,000 has been seized by Berhampur Town police station.
During investigation it was found that the owner of Ganjam Galaxy store had procured this uniform from Kolkata and who in turn has procured it from Ludhiana. Further investigation is going on to verify the place of manufacturing and the people behind it, the spokesperson said.
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