Four Men, Two U.S. and China Companies Indicted for Importing Knock-off Cisco Products
Three Seattle-area men, a Chinese man, and two companies from the U.S. and China were indicted Jan. 17 for conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement. U.S.-based ConnectZone.com, an electronics distributor, as well as its owner Daniel Oberholtzer, sales manager Warren Lance Wilder, and production manager Edward Vales, 31, are alleged to have sold counterfeit network products bearing the trademark of Cisco Systems through their online store, ICE said. They falsely advertised the knockoffs as genuine and offered them for sale at a much lower price than genuine Cisco products, it alleged.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
The U.S.-based conspirators were responsible for arranging the manufacture of the counterfeit goods through Mao Mang, aka "Bob Mao," a representative for Shenzhen Xiewei Electronic, LTD of China, IICE alleged. Both Mang and the company are also named in the indictment.
According to the indictment, Oberholtzer, Wilder and Vales would advise Mao and Xiewei Electronic, and other Chinese firms on how to manufacture products to look like genuine Cisco trademarked goods, ICE said. In an attempt to evade CBP, merchandise would be labeled "samples" when shipped to the U.S. The conspirators sent various emails as they ran their scheme, including discussions on how to reverse-engineer products, it said. In addition to the conspiracy count, the indictment also charges two counts of mail fraud and four counts of trafficking in counterfeit goods. Prosecutors believe Oberholtzer has been distributing counterfeit equipment from China since at least 1997, ICE said.
Conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $2 million fine. Mail fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and trafficking in counterfeit goods is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.