Justice Dept. Launches Campaign Against Counterfeit Goods
Counterfeit products and stolen intellectual property are estimated to deprive U.S. workers of some 750,000 jobs every year, and more than $250 billion in lost revenue for the U.S. economy. As the holiday shopping season gets under way, the U.S. Department of Justice is sounding the alarm to consumers, with a new ad campaign urging shoppers to “ Get Real .”
Launching the campaign at a White House event the day after Cyber Monday—the big post-Thanksgiving online shopping day—Attorney General Eric Holder announced the seizure of 150 domain names for sites found to be trafficking in counterfeit or pirated products. Holder was joined by White House Intellectual Property Enforcement coordinator Victoria Espinel , and Acting Deputy Secretary of Commerce Rebecca M. Blank, who announced her agency’s forthcoming report on the economic impact of intellectual property theft. Denise O’Donnell, director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, emceed the event.
According to a fact sheet on the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) website:
The U.S. Department of Commerce puts the value of fake products—such as CDs, DVDs, software, electronic equipment, pharmaceuticals, and auto products—at five [percent] to seven percent of world trade.
As we reported in May, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, expressing support for the Protect IP Act, sees solving the problem of counterfeiting, piracy and intellectual property theft as critical to creating and sustaining the jobs needed to revive the economy:
The economic well-being of workers in the United States—jobs, income, and benefits—turns more and more on our protecting the creativity and innovation that yield world-class entertainment, cutting-edge and sustainable manufacturing and construction, and disease-ending pharmaceuticals.
More information on the campaign against counterfeit goods and intellectual property theft can be found here , at the NCPC website. NCPC is funded by the Justice Department.
