I am back
I have taken a brief hiatus from this blog, but am back. Among the many things I have been up to were two presentations for the Florida Bar. The most recent was at the CLE course offered to attorneys who will be taking the exam for Intellectual Property Certification. The topics I covered were Florida's right of publicity statute and Florida common law trademark and unfair competition law. For those who may be interested, a copy of my written materials is available here.
Now that I am back, I have ambitious plans to cover some of the legal developments that took place during my vacation from the blog. Stay tuned.
By the way, this is my first posting using my new MacBook Pro. It's a great computer. For those few programs I need that are not available for OS X, I purchased and installed Parallels and Windows. So, I now have the best of all possible laptop worlds.
| Comments (0)Counterfeit Toothpaste Recalled
Colgate-Palmolive announced today that five-ounce tubes of counterfeit Colgate toothpaste may contain diethylene glycol, a poisonous chemical found in antifreeze. This is the same chemical that has recently prompted the the recall of several brands of toothpaste imported from China. According to the Associated Press, MS USA Trading, Inc. of North Bergen, N.J., which imported the toothpaste from South Africa and has initiated a recall of it, said the counterfeit product has been sold in discount stores in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The presence of diethylene glycol was reportedly discovered during routine testing by the FDA. Click here to read more at Forbes.com
Business Groups Press U.S. for More Aggressive Anti-Counterfeiting Action
Members of the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (CACP) urged the U.S. government today to take stronger action against piracy and counterfeiting. The group put forth a six-part agenda including increased border control, tougher penalties, increased funding for the Homeland Security and Justice Departments, and consumer education. Click here to read more.
Critique of RFID Technology as Supply Chain Policing Device
For a concise summary of an article published in CSO, a publication dealing with private security issues, that challenges the perception that RFID technology will prevent counterfeit drugs from entering the legitimate pharmaceutical supply chain, check out this entry in Passport, a blog by the editors of Foreign Policy magazine.
| Comments (0)OECD Report Totals Trade in Counterfeits at $200+ Billion
A study by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) estimates that trade in counterfeit and pirated goods across national borders totaled at least $200 billion in 2005. Click here to read more.
| Comments (0)Second IP Law Enforcement Coordinator to be Established in Bulgaria
The Bush Administration has announced that the Justice Department is planning to establish a second IP law enforcement coordinator in Sofia, Bulgaria, this summer to improve the department’s international cooperation and outreach. The first Justice Department IP coordinator was installed in 2006 in Bangkok, Thailand.
FDA Warns of Counterfeit Drugs and Glycerin
The FDA issued two counterfeiting warnings last week. On Friday, May 4, it advised pharmaceutical manufacturers, suppliers, drug repackers, and health professionals who compound medications to be vigilant in assuring that glycerin, a sweetener commonly used worldwide in liquid over-the-counter and prescription drug products, is not contaminated with diethylene glycol (DEG).
Last Tuesday, May 4, the FDA issued a warning to consumers regarding 24 apparently related Web sites that may be involved in the distribution of counterfeit prescription drugs. According to the warning, on three occasions during recent months, the FDA received information that counterfeit versions of Xenical, an obesity drug manufactured by Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. (Roche), were obtained from two different Web sites. None of the capsules ordered off the Web sites contained the active ingredient in authentic Xenical. Roche identified the two websites involved in this incident to the FDA as brandpills.com and pillspharm.com. The FDA then determined that these websites are two of 24 sites that appear on the pharmacycall365.com home page under the "Our Websites" heading. Four of these sites had previously have been identified by FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations as being associated with the distribution of counterfeit Tamiflu and counterfeit Cialis.
| Comments (0)L.A. City Council Debates Allowing Brand Owner to Donate Funds for Investigation
A committee of the Los Angeles city council postponed a decision last week on whether to accept a $50,000 donation by Philip Morris USA to the LAPD. The funds were reportedly solicited by LAPD Chief William Bratton to help pay for an on-going investigation into the counterfeiting of Phillip Morris's cigarettes. According to KGET News, some ethics watchdogs have objected to the donation on the ground that it it raises concerns about whether wealthy crime victims should be allowed to pay for police investigations. The view that such payments are either unfair or improper was disputed by LAPD Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell, who noted that there is no quid pro quo involved that would guarantee an outcome of the investigation in exchange for the money.
| Comments (1)RIAA Sends Out Second Wave of College C+D Letters
The RIAA announced Wednesday that it had sent a second wave of 405 pre-litigation settlement letters to 23 universities on behalf of the major record companies. The RIAA is asking the schools to forward the letters to the individual network users identified. In this second round of the RIAA's campus initiative, letters were sent in the following quantities to the following schools: Boston University (50 pre-litigation settlement letters), Columbia University (20), Dartmouth College (11), DePaul University (18), Drexel University (20), Ferris State University (17), Ithaca College (20), Purdue University (38), University of California - Berkeley (19), University of California - Los Angeles (21), University of California - Santa Cruz (17), University of Maine system (27), University of Nebraska - Lincoln (25), University of Wisconsin system (66), Vanderbilt University (20), and Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (16), according to an RIAA press release. The RIAA initiative gives students an opportunity to resolve copyright infringement claims against them at a discounted rate before a formal lawsuit is filed.
| Comments (0)UK Cigarette Packs To Contain Anti-Counterfeiting Chip
The UK tobacco industry will start placing an electronic chip in every cigarette pack made in the UK later this year. The major tobacco companies, British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Gallaher, will supply British Customs with hand-held electronic readers to detect the chips. The chips will allow Customs to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit cigarettes. The chip program will initially target counterfeit cigarettes sold in small corner shops.
According to the Daily Mail, the UK tobacco industry estimates that about two billion counterfeit cigarettes were smuggled into the UK last year, depriving the government of nearly £500 million in import duties. The cigarettes are made in China, the Far East and Eastern Europe. They pose a greater health risk than genuine branded cigarettes, containing substantially more tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide.
| Comments (1)Large Seizure by CBP at Port of Oakland
U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced yesterday that it had seized more than 100,000 pieces of counterfeit Fendi and Gucci handbags along with other counterfeit goods bearing .jpg)
trademarks belonging to Chanel, Coach, Louis Vuitton, and others. The value of equivalent authentic goods would have been approximately $13 million. The shipment arrived at the Port of Oakland from China on February 22 with New York as its final destination. The fake goods, which were declared as blankets, were hidden among legitimate merchandise in the shipment.
Bill Introduced to Increase Penalties for Drug Counterfeiting
The Counterfeit Drug Prevention Act of 2007 (HR 780) has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Reps. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Gene Green (D-TX). The bill would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to establish criminal penalties of a fine and imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both, for any person who commits a prohibited act relating to counterfeiting knowing that: (1) the conduct concerns the rendering of a drug as a counterfeit drug; (2) the conduct will cause a drug to be a counterfeit drug; or (3) a drug, held, sold, or dispensed is a counterfeit drug. Increases the term of imprisonment to any term of years or for life if the use of a counterfeit drug is the proximate cause of a consumer's death.
Coming Up March 21-22, 2007 ACI's 2nd Annual Corporate Counsel's Guide to Anti-Counterfeiting & Brand Integrity Protection
The American Conference Institute is putting on a terrific program on anti-counterfeiting and brand integrity protection at the Wynn Las Vegas on March 21-22. I will be presenting with Lego Systems' Corporate Counsel Robin Smith on Optimizing Anti-Counterfeiting Initiatives on a Tight Budget. For more information or to register click here.
| Comments (0)
The 2nd Annual Corporate Counsel's Guide To
Anti-Counterfeiting & Brand Integrity ProtectionA benchmarking forum for global brand protection & enforcement solutions
Wednesday, March 21, 2007 to Thursday, March 22, 2007
Wynn Las Vegas , Las Vegas, NV , United StatesAlso available on Friday, March 23, 2007 9:00 a.m. 12:30 p.m.:
Interactive Master Class - Maximizing Global IP Protection
Developing a cohesive plan for determining where to seek protection and how to go about getting it
UN Calls on Member Countries to Tighten Laws to Curb Fake Drug Sales
The United Nations' International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) Annual Report, released Thursday, March 1, calls on member countries to tighten up laws to curb the illegal manufacture and sale of fake medicines.
According to the most recent assessment by the World Health Organization (WHO), between 10 and 30 per cent of drugs used in developing countries are counterfeit.
Last November, WHO launched the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT) to fight the growing trade in counterfeit drugs. IMPACT's first meeting takes place in Prague on the 13th of March.
| Comments (0)FakesAreNeverFashion.com to Launch
The Harper’s Bazaar Anticounterfeiting Alliance has announced plans to launch FakesAreNeverFashion.com next month. The website will broadcast clips of undercover police investigations and seizures, and publicize the connection between counterfeiting and terrorism, child labor and drug cartels.
| Comments (0)2006 ICE Statistics
According to ICE, in fiscal year 2006, ICE special agents and CBP officers made 14,675 seizures of counterfeit goods worth more than $155 million. This is a 67 percent increase from the 2005 fiscal year. In fiscal year 2006, ICE investigations resulted in 219 arrests, 134 indictments and 170 convictions in intellectual property rights violations.
Police Blotter
ABC Action News in Philadelphia reported today that Wilmington, Delaware police had arrested two men on charges of distributing or selling counterfeit goods and seized CDs, clothing, shoes and other items worth more than $120,000 from three stores in downtown Wilmington, Crazy Discount, Discount Plus and Shivam's Paradise.
The International Herald Tribune reports today that Hong Kong customs officials seized counterfeit goods and pirated DVDs worth US$1.3 million in operation "Fire Tornado," a month long crackdown on retail outlets that sold handbags and other counterfeit goods. Most were located in shopping areas popular with tourists.
Police in Ho Chi Minh City (HCM) seized more than 20,000 pirated CDs and DVDs, including hundreds of DVDs of the film Rocky Balboa, from a house in HCM City’s District 7, according to the Vietnam News Agency. Police said the seized fakes belonged to a counrtefeiting ring that had produced and sold pirated CDs, VCDs and DVDs in HCM City for years.
KPRC Local 2 in Humble, Texas reports that two sisters-in-law working for local nail salons were arrested after ICE agents and local police seized more than 300 fake purses and other counterfeit products valued at more than $160,000 from Hanna Nail and Vanna's Nails, the Humble-area nail salons that employed them. The women, who sold counterfeits to undercover police, did not attempt to pass them off as genuine items. The women have been charged with felony trademark counterfeiting. Video footage of the seizure is available on the KPRC website.
New York State Police arrested a Tonawanda, NY resident, David A. Cook, after finding 1,500 or so counterfeit DVDs at his booth at Antique World in Clarence. Cook was selling each movie for $5. An additional 6,000 movies were seized from Cook's home along with untaxed cigarettes, according to the Tonawanda News. The investigation was conducted by local state police investigators working with state investigators from the Special Investigations Unit in Buffalo. Cook was charged Monday with first-degree manufacture or sale of unauthorized recording of a performance, first-degree failure to disclose origin of a recording, second-degree trademark counterfeiting, possession of untaxed cigarettes and attempt to evade/defeat New York State Tobacco Products Tax.
Sean John Canada Launches Don't Buy a Lie Campaign
Some brand owners shy away from publicity about the counterfeiting of their products, fearing that consumers will steer clear of the genuine article out of concern that they may end up with a fake. Not so Sean John Canada. Sean John recently launched its Don't Buy a Lie campaign to educate consumers about the adverse affects of counterfeiting and to teach them how to distinguish a genuine Sean Jean clothing article from a fake.
