Company sued for counterfeit Atlanta Braves caps

A California company is being sued for more than half a million dollars for trying to import counterfeit Atlanta Braves caps into the United States.

A federal complaint seeks the financial penalty for violating the intellectual property rights of the Atlanta Braves baseball club, said federal prosecutors Thursday in a press release.

Billion International Trading, Inc., of South El Monte, Calif., violated the "Anticounterfeiting Consumer Protection Act" by attempting to import 20,160 acrylic and wool caps bearing a counterfeit version of the Atlanta Braves' stylized letter "A," said U.S. Attorney Sally Q. Yates.

The caps, intended for distribution in the Atlanta area, were seized at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in December 2008.

The counterfeit caps, purchased from Chinese company Yangzhou Yingmei Caps Factory Co., Ltd., had a retail value of $644,918.40, if genuine, and the complaint alleges that Billion International Trading is liable for a civil fine in that amount.

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