Submission of the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition to the United States Trade Representative: Special 301 Recommendations (PDF; 420 KB)
Source: International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition, Inc. (“IACC”)

Trademark counterfeiting and piracy pose an ever-increasing threat to the sustainable development of the world economy. In addition to depriving legitimate businesses and their workers of income, intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement discourages innovation and creativity, threatens consumer health and safety, provides an easy source of revenue for criminals (including organized crime) and deprives governments of much needed tax revenue.

Despite the considerable resources applied by both the public and private sector to address the global problems of counterfeiting and piracy, there is substantial anecdotal and statistical evidence indicating that these problems continue to grow in size and scope. Information from industry and government sources, including Interpol, the World Customs Organization, and the World Intellectual Property Organization confirms that this growth is due in part to the increasing involvement of more sophisticated organized criminal networks operating across national boundaries.

This year, our members observed the following global trends in piracy and trademark counterfeiting:

• China and Russia Are Priorities
  China and Russia have far and away the most unfavorable environments to protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, according to our members, and substantiated by a survey of businesses by Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (“BASCAP”).1 China alone is now the source of as much as 80 percent of all infringing goods seized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the customs authorities of European Union member states, and IACC members report that Russia is rivaling China as one of the worst sources for counterfeit goods. The growing trade relationship between Russia and China is cementing partnerships between manufacturers and exporters of pirated and counterfeit products in both countries.

• Trans-Shipping and Free Trade Zones
  Free trade zones in a growing number of countries are increasingly exploited by counterfeiters and copyright pirates to facilitate the global distribution of fakes. IACC members report rising concerns in countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, among other countries. IACC members also note that free trade zones are beings exploited by pirates and counterfeiters shipping fake components and labels separately for assembly and distribution in other countries.

• Internet Piracy and Counterfeiting
  IACC members are seriously concerned by the scale of copyright piracy and counterfeiting activity on the Internet. Internet traders operating behind shadow fronts that are impossible to cost-effectively investigate for IP owners, and they represent one of the main engines of burgeoning global trade in fakes of all kinds. In China, rights holders find the sheer number of offending sites dismaying. In Russia, online piracy remains one of the most significant obstacles to copyright owners in the Russian market.

While leaders and policy makers in our trading partners are more cognizant of the negative implications tied to the trade of illicit goods, the need for greater priority to be given to anti- counterfeiting efforts remains dire. Counterfeiting and piracy pose serious threats to public health and well being, cause substantial losses in tax revenues, hinder developmendomestic and international markets, and diminish incentives for global innovation.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 9th, 2008 at 11:16 am and is filed under Business and economics, China, Intellectual property, International Relations, Internet, Russia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.