Also So Much to Do in IP in the USA! Happy World IP Day To All!

Keith Johnson reports today in the Wall Street Journal that:

- Last Christmas the US seized 26 million US dollar worth of counterfeit goods.
- Now the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center confiscated 40 million US dollar worth of couterfeit goods in more than 30 US cities. This operation was called: Spring Cleaning. Seems that the US is copying China's gusto for fancy names for enforcement operations.
- And as part of a separate and long running investigation at the port of Baltimore another 200 million US dollar worth of fake goods were seized.

Mr Johnson wrote: "Chinese criminal gangs are the biggest purveyors of fake goods in the U.S., accounting for about 80%, by value, of the counterfeit goods seized last year, according to U.S. government data."

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AMP: "Economic Crisis Should Make German Government Act More Aggressively Against Counterfeiters"

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) interviewed Mr Rüdiger Stihl, chairman of the Aktionskreises gegen Produkt- und Markenpiraterie (APM). The resulting article at the site of N24 (in German) gives a good overview of the damages that are caused by counterfeit products originating from China (for 75 percent) and Turkey (10 percent) and the measures that APM is proposing.

APM claims that:

• the counterfeit products on the German market represent a value of an estimated 30 million euro;
• 70.000 jobs in Germany are lost because of the counterfeit products.

APM demands more agressive measures from the governement, especially now during the economic crisis:

• counterfeiters should get draconic sanctions, including imprisonment;
• not only should the counterfeit products be seized that tourists bought, but they should get a fine as well.

To raise public awareness and sensitise German citizens, APM is organising an exhibition, called 'Schöner Schein. Dunkler Schatten' which means 'Glamour appearance. Dark shadow', that will be held medio 2010 in 30 German shopping centres and must inform 10 million consumers about the risks of counterfeit products.

Bleak reminder

Market price of 1 kilo counterfeit viagra: 90,000 euro (dealers are in many cases not even prosecuted); Market price 1 kilo heroin: 40,000 euro (dealers are risking high jail sentences). You can guess what is the most profitable/low risk business for organised crime.

Update: Mr John Bingham wrote an article for the Telegraph.co.uk in which he claims that drug dealers switch from cocaine to fake viagra, read here.

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Daniel Chow: Link Between Counterfeiting and Organised Crime

Jeffrey Sheban wrote a good article entitled 'In the land of counterfeit' for The Columbus Dispatch in which the link between counterfeiting and organised crime is suggested. He quotes Ohio State University law professor Mr Daniel C.K. Chow, who spent two years in China leading anti-counterfeiting efforts for the consumer products giant Procter & Gamble.

"Most consumers think it's harmless fun to buy knockoffs," Chow said. "But if you buy counterfeit products, you are supporting organized crime and all the abuses that come with it, including narcotics, smuggling and prostitution." Read more here.

IP Dragon quoted Thomas Ehmer head of IP at Puma in January 2007 that the counterfeiting operations have become much more professional in 2006: “We are now facing organised crime,” he concludes." Read more here.

The link between counterfeiting and organised crime different from counterfeiting, such as narcotics, (forced) prostitution, does not sound too far fetched, although IP Dragon has not found proof of this suggestion. But it makes sense for criminial organisations to stop their narcotics and prostitution operations and start or extend their operations with counterfeiting, since this is very profitable and the punishment is less severe in comparison to narcotics and prostitution.

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