Product counterfeiting is a lucrative international business, growing at an alarming rate, with devastating consequences for businesses, and consumers in the U.S. and abroad. Losses to U.S. businesses from the counterfeiting of trademarked and copyrighted products is estimated at $200 billion a year, according to the Department of Commerce.
The U.S. Customs Service helps businesses to protect their intellectual property, but it can only intervene if the property is registered with the proper federal agency.
- Patents are issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov).
- Trademarks should be registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and recorded with the Customs Service (http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/).
- Copyrights should be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office (http://www.loc.gov/copyright/).
- Mask works (the design of an electrical circuit fixed in a semiconductor chip) should be registered with the Copyright Office.
- Trade names can be recorded with the Customs Service.
In addition to registering and recording your company's intellectual property, you can help foil product counterfeiters by following these measures:
- Alert your sales force, distributors and manufacturers to the counterfeiting problem, and instruct them to look for counterfeits at retail establishments and trade shows.
- Educate consumers to the counterfeiting problem and how to distinguish the fakes. Investigate all consumer complaints about the inauthenticity of products.
- Hire private investigators to monitor retail establishments for counterfeits and to find their sources.
- Encourage federal and state law enforcement and consumer agencies to aggressively pursue cases of product counterfeiting.
The best approach businesses can take to avoid becoming a party to the distribution of bogus goods is founded on common sense. Deal with reputable distributors only. Be wary when a distributor says it will be easy delivering what you know is a hard-to-find product. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.
If you are certain that one of your company's patents has been violated, you can apply to the U. S. International Trade Commission for an exclusion order, which directs the Customs Service to deny entry to imports in violation of the order. The ITC can also issue exclusion orders against goods imported by the use of other unfair trade practices, such as violation of trademark, copyright, and mask work registrations.
