Zumba Steps Up Efforts to Combat Counterfeiting and Piracy
By Zumba Fitness Llc, PRNESunday, July 24, 2011
HALLANDALE BEACH, Florida, July 25, 2011 -
- Fitness Leader
Pursues Legal and Legislative Initiatives to Protect Licensees,
Consumers and Brand
Zumba Fitness, LLC, the largest dance-fitness company in the
world, announced today it has increased pursuit of legal and
legislative initiatives to combat unauthorized brand use,
counterfeiting and pirating. The heightened activity reflects the
Company’s commitment to protecting the jobs, well-being and safety
of Zumba®
instructors and enthusiasts around the world and proprietary
Zumba® brand fitness
(Photo:
)
“Millions of Zumba participants in the United States and
internationally know the health and fitness benefits of our unique
programs and products,” said Alberto Perlman, CEO of Zumba.
”Unfortunately, Zumba’s popularity has led to widespread,
unauthorized promoters and instructors who are not only acting
illegally but endangering the safety of consumers. We take
our responsibilities to Zumba enthusiasts and our licensed
instructors very seriously and are intent on pursuing whatever
legal and legislative actions we can to fight the counterfeiting
and pirating around the globe.”
Legal Action and
Investigations
Zumba reported that recent coordinated enforcement efforts by
the Company and authorities in the United Kingdom, Netherlands,
Sweden and the United States resulted in a raid in the U.K. led by
the West Midlands
police and Zumba’s Corporate Counsel (supported by exclusive
U.K. DVD distributor
arrest resulted from the raid and approximately $1.5 million worth
of suspect counterfeit products (including
have been identified. Thousands of counterfeit Zumba DVDs and
Zumbawear® apparel were seized along with other suspected
counterfeit products incorporating
Zumba’s other anti-counterfeiting activities in Australia,
Eastern and Western Europe, and North and South America revealed
that people and entities have also been purchasing poor quality
counterfeit Zumba® products from rogue and other websites all over
the world, predominately from Asia. These and other problems with
counterfeit products from Asia forced Zumba to restrict its
distribution of optical disc products there to better identify
counterfeit products. The company is working on several
creative solutions to these problems.
“Counterfeiting and piracy harms our licensees, cheats
consumers, steal jobs and harms our global social economy,” stated
Jason Buratti, General Counsel and Vice President of Business
Affairs at Zumba. ”Like counterfeiters, unlicensed
instructors and entities make unlawful use of our intellectual
property rights and usually know what they’re doing. Zumba works
hard to protect our licensed instructors and consumers from these
bad actors. Zumba’s intensified anti-counterfeiting efforts have
achieved a substantial increase in compliance with our efforts to
educate those who unfairly and illegally usurp our licensee’s
teaching opportunities. We’re very pleased with the results
of the program so far. But it’s just the beginning.”
Zumba reports hundreds of ongoing investigations in dozens of
countries around the globe and filed six new lawsuits in the U.S.,
including one naming an unlicensed instructor as defendant. The
company anticipates filing additional lawsuits and conducting more
criminal and civil investigations in Europe, APAC and North and
South America this year.
Legislative
Action
Zumba joined the
Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy’s campaign
supporting legislation to extend the
address rogue websites that copy and sell counterfeit products.
The legislation would provide U.S. intellectual property
rights holders and law enforcement officials with better tools to
combat rouge websites. Mr. Buratti recently participated in
congressional briefings and
meetings on Capitol Hill regarding the rogue websites bill,
accompanied by industry representatives and U.S. rights holders,
including Chanel,
Claiborne, Inc. [
], MPAA,
“Rogue websites and counterfeit goods steal significant job
opportunities that Zumba brand fitness programs and products create
all over the world and endanger the health and welfare of our
consumers,” added Mr. Buratti. ”Zumba designs its consumer
products to give the joy of a Zumba® fitness-party to those that
might not otherwise experience a live class. This joy drives
consumers to live classes, leading to happier, healthier lifestyles
for many and creating more jobs for licensed Zumba instructors.
Counterfeit products and rogue websites deprive everyone of these
benefits. We need strong laws in place that protect the health and
safety of consumers and the jobs of licensees from counterfeiters
and pirates.”
The Company engages in legal and legislative initiatives to
protect Zumba’s licensees and consumers everywhere. The company
calls on Zumba enthusiasts to remain vigilant for any wrongdoing.
Zumba is cooperating with federal and local law enforcement
organizations on every continent and appreciates the public’s help.
Email concerns regarding counterfeiting or piracy to
About Zumba Fitness, LLC
Zumba Fitness is the largest dance-fitness company in the world
known for the Zumba® program, a blend of contagious and
easy-to-follow choreographies set to upbeat international rhythms.
Coined the “fitness-party,” Zumba® classes provide
an effective total-body workout, which tone and
sculpt while burning fat. In 2011, Zumba Fitness
celebrates 10 years of changing lives as more than 12 million
devotees attend weekly Zumba classes across 125 countries in
110,000 locations. In addition to the original Zumba program, there
are now four specialty programs: the Zumba Gold® program, a
modified version for active older adults; the Zumba® Toning program
featuring lightweight, maraca-like Zumba® Toning Sticks; the
Aqua Zumba® program, the ultimate “pool party” workout; and the
Zumbatomic® program, kid-friendly Zumba routines. For at-home
fitness, the brand offers the Zumba® Fitness Total Body
Transformation DVD Set and the cutting-edge Zumba® Fitness
Exhilarate™ DVD collection; both feature original Zumba® fitness
music created by Grammy award-winning producers. In 2010, the
Zumba® Fitness Video Game was released on multiple platforms. The
brand also offers its colorful and expressive multiseasonal
Zumbawear® collection. With every new project Zumba Fitness
undertakes, the mission remains the same — to make instructors
successful. For more information or to find a live class, visit
photography, email
Shaun Leavy, MWW Group, +1-201-964-2427, sleavy at mww.com
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