Nautilus announces conviction of exercise equipment counterfeiters

Aug 10 2010

In its continuing actions against counterfeiters of Bowflex® products, fitness company Nautilus, Inc. (NYSE:NLS) cooperated with and aided U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in obtaining the conviction of Chunchai "Katherine" Yu for bribery and trafficking in counterfeit exercise equipment. Yu was convicted by a federal jury in southern California on July 15, 2010 and faces a maximum sentence of 90 years in prison and fines totalling $12.5 million. In addition, Nautilus is continuing with its civil litigation against Yu for knowingly importing and selling counterfeit Bowflex products.

“Our multi-prong approach has achieved success against both importers and sellers of counterfeit Bowflex products. We will continue to identify and take action against all parties who are legally responsible for the importation and sale of counterfeit Bowflex products.”

Civil litigation and cooperation with criminal investigations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are two of the multiple prongs in the Nautilus anti-counterfeiting program. Nautilus also works with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to block the importation of counterfeits and monitors domestic and international online sales to bring actions against sellers of counterfeits. Mark Meininger, Nautilus Corporate Attorney for counterfeiting matters, states, "Our multi-prong approach has achieved success against both importers and sellers of counterfeit Bowflex products. We will continue to identify and take action against all parties who are legally responsible for the importation and sale of counterfeit Bowflex products."

Counterfeit goods are a significant problem for businesses and consumers. In the case of exercise equipment, consumers who buy counterfeits receive low quality goods that are not authentic and have no warranty or replacement parts support. When making a purchase, consumers are urged to confirm that the store or website selling branded products is an authorized dealer selling authentic Bowflex and Nautilus products.