New York City Settles Lawsuit Against Self-Storage Facility

Authorities in New York City have settled the first-ever civil suit against a self-storage facility for allowing tens of thousands of counterfeit trademarked goods to be stored and distributed by individual renters.

City officials say Friday the settlement was reached after investigators seized about 44,000 counterfeit and unauthorized items last summer from a self-storage facility owned by Safeguard Properties LLC. Those items included pirated DVDs such as “The Hunger Games” and music from artists including Lady Gaga and Rihanna. The items were estimated to have a retail value of more than $550,000.

Officials say Safeguard agreed to adopt more stringent rules for its renters and adopt a code of “best practices” as part of the agreement.

Safeguard CEO Allan Sweet says he hopes the new rental procedures become industry standard.