see also: in April 2006 News Releases:   CBP Officers Seize Thousands of Dollars from Sentri Participant   CBP Nabs Murder Suspects at Two Different Port of Entries   Border Patrol’s BORSTAR Team Saving Lives   CBP Officers Seize Over Three Tons of Marijuana at Calexico Ports   CBP Border Patrol Agents Apprehend Wanted Fugitive Featured on America’s Most Wanted   Homeland Security Officials Unveil Latest Radiation Technology to Secure our Nation's Seaports   Rising Temperatures in South Texas Prompt Rescue Efforts ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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Washington, DC – U.S. law enforcement’s ability to combat the importation of goods that violate U.S. intellectual property rights laws and defraud American businesses of billions of dollars annually was strengthened through the passage of the Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act H.R. 32 recently signed into law by President Bush.

“This new law enables us to attack the new techniques that counterfeiters are using and helps us to adapt to their ever changing practices of intellectual property theft. This law now helps us keep pace with the way these illicit traders import – bringing in goods that are seemingly legitimate and importing the labels separately,” said Acting Assistant Commissioner Daniel Baldwin.

Pirated and counterfeit goods are estimated to account for approximately $512 billion or roughly 7 percent of global trade. Interception of infringing products at the U.S. borders has increased dramatically over the past several years. In the last five years, seizures of goods for intellectual property violations have increased by 125 percent. Seizures increased from 3,586 in 2001 to 8,022 in 2005.

In 2005, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement made 8,022 seizures of counterfeit goods with a domestic value of more than $93 million.

Specifically the bill is designed to:

• Strengthen Our Laws Against Trading Counterfeit Labels And Packaging. While it was already illegal to manufacture, ship, or sell counterfeit products, this legislation closes a loophole allowing the shipment of falsified labels or packaging, which counterfeiters could then attach to fake products in order to cheat consumers by passing off poorly made items as brand-name goods. By closing the loophole, we will help keep honest Americans from losing business to scam artists - and protect consumers from being cheated out of their hard-earned dollars.
• Strengthen Penalties For Counterfeiters And Gives Prosecutors New Tools. This bill requires courts to order the destruction of all counterfeit products seized as part of a criminal investigation and requires convicted counterfeiters to turn over their profits and any equipment used in their operations. This bill requires those convicted of counterfeiting to reimburse the legitimate businesses they exploited.

In his remarks the President said that the problem of counterfeiting has grown in recent years costing Americans hundreds of billions of dollars each year and harming the economy.

“Counterfeiting hurts businesses. They lose the right to profit from their innovation. Counterfeiting hurts workers, because counterfeiting undercuts honest competition, rewards illegal competitors. Counterfeiting hurts consumers as fake products expose our people to serious health and safety risks. Counterfeiting hurts the government. We lose tax revenue. We have to use our resources of law enforcement to stop counterfeiting,” President Bush said at a White House ceremony where he signed the bill into law.

In response to this growing problem, U.S. federal agencies are collaborating on the Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!), a multi-agency effort to improve the protection of intellectual property rights. As the agency responsible for stopping fakes at U.S. borders, CBP is a key player in STOP!. As part of STOP!, CBP is diversifying its IPR enforcement methods to complement its traditional examination of goods at the ports of entry to detect counterfeits. CBP’s new methods are geared towards identifying business practices linked to counterfeiting and piracy. New methods include:

1. Risk Modeling. Through the use of innovative analytical methods, CBP is improving its capabilities to detect and seize counterfeit and pirated products.
2. IPR Audits. CBP is using experts in corporate finance and internal controls to focus on businesses and their multi-national financial transactions involved in the illicit trade in fakes.

U. S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation’s borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.