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Houston – Counterfeiters were not counting on U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers identifying their products as fakes when they attempted to import their goods to Houston.

Customs and Border Protection officers seized a shipment of counterfeit and confusingly similar sunglasses with a domestic value of about $42,000. If the goods had been authentic products sold by the trademark owners, the estimated manufacture suggested retail price would be about $2.3 million. The officers seized the shipment March 9 after import specialists confirmed the merchandise violated trademark laws.

“Customs and Border Protection officers are actively enforcing trade laws and protecting legitimate business owners and consumers from copyright and trademark infringements,” said Jeffrey O. Baldwin Sr., CBP’s Houston director of field operations. “When we identify products that violate trademarks or trade name rights, we seize the shipment and assess fines and penalties.”

Customs and Border Protection officers targeted the container for inspection in early February. The importer described the container’s shipment as sunglasses with a value of about $30,000; however, when officers inspected the shipment they found sunglasses with designer brands including Puma, Coach, Ray-Ban and Locs affixed to the shades. Import specialists collected samples of the sunglasses and confirmed that both counterfeit and confusingly similar sunglasses were included in the shipment.

Seized property specialists will take possession of the sunglasses. Customs and Border Protection could assess fines and penalties to the importer that is equal to the MSRP value.

In fiscal year 2008, nationwide the domestic value of counterfeit and pirated goods seized for intellectual property rights violations was up 38.6 percent to $272.7 million, an increase of almost $76 million from fiscal year 2007.

Imported counterfeit sunglasses and or their parts reached a domestic value of $7,919,375 in fiscal year 2008 that was nearly double the estimated value $3,967,617 from fiscal year 2007.

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.