Counterfeiting and Lack of Enforcement Overseas Hurting U.S. Companies, Industry Tells USTR
Counterfeiting and failure by foreign governments to implement or enforce laws to counter the crimes are harming U.S. businesses, industry said in comments filed on Feb. 5 to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (here). USTR asked for industry comments to help craft its 2016 Special 301 Review of Notorious Markets. Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Ukraine, and Venezuela should be added to the watch list; and China, Honduras, Philippines, Russia, and Turkey should be added to the priority watch list, the American Apparel and Footwear Association said in its comments (here).
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Along with AAFA, Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, and the National Association of Manufacturers largely highlighted China as the biggest marketplace for counterfeit goods and as offering weak adjudication procedures. AAFA and FDRA both said they were “encouraged” by efforts to stem counterfeiting by websites such as Alibaba and its subsidiary TaoBao, with FDRA mentioning Alibaba’s recent increase in engagement with other industry members and its bolstering of its IP enforcement staff. But more needs to be done, the associations said.
“Alibaba's Taobao consumer-to-consumer marketplace platform is simply rife with offerings of counterfeit footwear and other consumer goods,” FDRA said in its submitted comments. “Taobao's processes for rights-holders to register and request enforcement action, as well as Taobao's ‘good faith’ takedown procedures, remain slow, difficult to use, and lack transparency.”
Notably, FDRA knocked Canada as having an IP regime that “falls short of the rest of the developed world,” citing a lack of information sharing between enforcement authorities and rights holders. FDRA called for Canada to work closer with CBP to prioritize enforcement actions and stop trade in infringing products. USTR is holding a hearing in Washington on the Special 301 submissions and the report to follow. Representatives from groups including AAFA and FDRA are expected to testify.