Footwear Group Seeks USTR Help to Reverse Spike in Counterfeits
The U.S. needs to "to take all actions necessary" to address a recent spike in the number of counterfeit footwear products, the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America said to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as part of the agency's Special 301 Subcommittee hearing on March 1. The brands and products of the FDRA's member companies "support thousands of American jobs -- jobs that are put at risk by counterfeiting and piracy,” said the group's president Matthew Priest in a news release. “Seizures of counterfeit footwear increased by 356% during the latest three-year reporting period, and footwear went from being the twelfth most-seized product for IP violations in the world to the sixth -- a stunning increase over a three year period.” The USTR each year identifies "countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property protection," and recently received written stakeholder comments on the issue.
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Among the trade group's global concerns are "inadequate" penalties that don't deter criminal enterprises from engaging in trademark counterfeiting operations," the FDRA said in its testimony (here). "In many countries, the penalties imposed on these enterprises are so low that they only add to the cost of doing business." Also problematic is the use of express mail and postal services to deliver fake products, said the FDRA. The sellers often send larger shipments as several smaller packages to avoid detection use fake descriptions, the group said. The volume of such packages make "adequate" screening impossible and "the tremendous acceleration and growth of e-commerce globally will only exacerbate this already troubling trend, not just in the U.S., but globally," it said.
The Alliance for Fair Trade with India joined other groups during the hearing in detailing certain practices of India that are seen as negatively impacting U.S. businesses and industries, and said “encouraging rhetoric” between President Barack Obama and Indian officials “has not translated into concrete action.” Longstanding issues with India include “weaknesses in the Indian copyright system that harm U.S. and Indian creators, the use and threatened use of compulsory licensing” on certain technologies, and “measures in Indian law that add a legally questionable additional criterion” for patenting products. “Overall, very few improvements have been made to India’s intellectual property rights regime since the 2015 Special 301 report,” said the group (here). The group recommended India remain on the Special 301 Priority Watch List and be subject to an out-of-cycle review.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) issued a news release (here) listing its “top five” countries to be looked at for IP-related issues -- Canada, China, Colombia, India and Russia -- and recommended a “more detailed out-of-cycle review” of IPR challenges in Canada, Colombia and India. NAM “urges the USTR and its fellow agencies to take full advantage of the Special 301 process and new enforcement tools to push for real progress on priority issues facing manufacturers in the United States in order to best protect American competitiveness and jobs,” said the release.