Methods to Stop Fake Goods Trade Considered at Senate Hearing
Information sharing between companies and CBP remains the best way to help the agency interdict counterfeit products, said administration officials, industry stakeholders, and senators said during an April 27 Senate hearing on counterfeits. CBP should be given adequate resources to combat illicit sales, and government and industry should work to educate the public about counterfeit detection methods, they said
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Counterfeits thrive in large part due to deceptive, luring internet ads, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. However, Revision Military Government and Legal Affairs Senior Director Greg Maguire said he wouldn’t recommend legislation to address such internet advertising, because the Internet should be allowed to flourish in an unfettered way and expand as an economic engine. Maguire called on industry stakeholders to take the onus upon themselves, and form groups to protect product integrity. “That really needs to happen, because at the end of the day, the consumer can’t run to the internet, can’t run to a producer or a manufacturer to settle everybody’s money,” he said. “It is in industry’s best interest to make sure that what is sold is the real thing.” Blumenthal is “not eager” to legislate “where it’s not necessary,” and suggested the need for “some type of partnership…as soon as possible, if it will work” after which he would consider the necessity for any legislation, he said.
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in a prepared statement (here) pointed out that the CBP in 2015 seized more than 28,000 items that “infringed” on intellectual property, totaling $1.3 billion in value, and that an Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development study released last week indicates that counterfeit and pirated products composed up to 2.5 percent of world trade in 2013. Counterfeits no longer arrive in containerships that can be inspected at ports, but instead in “one-off” small packages shipped directly to consumers, Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in prepared remarks (here). “In this new reality, businesses and law enforcement must work together to protect consumers and the supply chain,” Leahy said. “Businesses are sharing information with Customs and Border Patrol to help them detect counterfeits. Brand owners are sharing information with each other to help track down bad actors.”