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Report courtesy CTV3 Orange Walk - At least one hundred companies at the Corozal Commercial Free Zone are being taken to court on piracy charges. That is what the Mexican press is reporting. Accordingly, international big brands like Nike, Converse and Chanel have already filed a series of million dollar lawsuits at the Supreme Court in Corozal against these companies for selling imitations and marketing these items internationally.

Reports add that these trademark companies have sent their lawyers who are in Belize for a week now and continue to check on the businesses at the Free Zone. Reports add that Nike alone has sued one company for the sum of eight million dollars for the time they have been selling pirated copies of their product.

Carlos Parra Jimenez, advisor to the committee in the Free Zone, said unlike in Mexico, accused business owners will not be detained. Instead, both parties' present necessary documents and the judge will give a date for when the trial begins.

Parra Jimenez said that it is not clear how many companies may face legal action from these name brand companies but what is clear is that companies in the Free Zone can no longer import pirated items and market them there, unless it is original and they meet the respective requirements and obtain official documentation.

Today we tried getting in contact with the Chairman of the Corozal Commercial Free Zone David Ackerman but our calls to him went unanswered. We will continue to follow this story as it develops.