Wayne Pinkstaff
- 40 years experience in product and supply chain integrity as an investigator and advisor
- 29 years experience with U.S. Government agencies investigating and prosecuting import and export crimes and high technology and munitions theft
- Consults with consumer goods and industrial clients in anti-counterfeiting, and security of personnel, supply chain and facilities
- All 7 Best Practices
- Pre-Meeting Discovery Process
- One-on-One Call with Expert
- Meeting Summary Report
- Post-Meeting Engagement
Import Controls - Product Protection
Key Trends
- The magnitude of counterfeit goods trafficking and intellectual property rights violations is difficult to measure.
Due to the clandestine nature of such illicit activity, it is difficult to accurately quantify the size of the activity or the exact financial losses incurred. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the federal agency tasked with the examination of cargo and persons entering the U.S., stated in their report entitled “Intellectual Property Rights – Fiscal Year 2011 Seizure Statistics” the following:
IPR seizures – Fiscal Year 2011:
- 24,792 – number of IPR-related seizures
- $178.9 million – domestic value of IPR seizures
Top commodities seized (by value) – Fiscal Year 2011:
- Consumer electronics
- Footwear
- Pharmaceuticals
- Optical media (primarily CDs and DVDs)
- Wearing apparel
- Perfume/cologne
- 24,792 – number of IPR-related seizures
- New countries are emerging as sources of counterfeit goods and new categories of product are being affected.
While the vast majority of seized counterfeit goods originated in China, other emergent countries are also suspected of being source countries of such product. Those countries include Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, and other nations attempting to enter the illicit marketplace.
Presently, there is an increased threat in the trafficking of counterfeit health and safety commodities; including, counterfeit electronics, pharmaceuticals, electric equipment, automobile parts, aircraft parts, and other related goods. This threat has been recognized by U.S. federal agencies and they have increased their efforts in identifying and interdicting such goods.
- The Internet has contributed to an increased threat of content piracy and intellectual property rights violations.
In addition, piracy over the internet has also become a significant concern. Broadband internet access is more widely available than ever before and has become a platform for illicit re-broadcasts of sporting events and other digital piracy activities.
Increased efforts by governmental agencies, as well as more effective interdiction by CBP and other law enforcement agencies, are required to minimize the threat to intellectual property rights holders. However, in partnership with government, it is incumbent upon companies to initiate in-house programs to protect the integrity of their brands.