Our firm began investigating the sources of counterfeit consumer products in the 1980′s with a focus on movie and music cassettes; software, purses, sunglasses, collectibles and other small consumer items, generally sold by street merchants or retail stores in U.S. metropolitan areas.
While they represented a nuisance to our client companies, the imitation goods or “knockoffs” were very cheap reproductions of the genuine product and in most cases were easily discernible, as their appearance, packaging and labeling were cheaply fashioned. Our primary function was to locate and identify the vendors of the counterfeit goods, confirm that they were bogus products, and work with law enforcement agencies to seize the goods and work up the chain to identify the source suppliers.
In the intervening period, the quality and quantity of counterfeit goods has increased dramatically and, as such, impacted manufacturers and retailers both economically and in the marketplace; where bogus goods are being purchased by consumers who could care less where it’s made, as long as it bears the name or logo of a prestigious product. While law enforcement agencies lead by U.S. Customs have ramped up their efforts to stop the flow of counterfeit goods at our borders, the sheer increase in the size and scope of the problem has limited their capacity to seize the counterfeit goods to mitigate the problem at our ports of entry. To counter these efforts, the bogus product counterfeiters have increasingly turned to the Internet and set up websites to attract new customers and ship goods through the mail or by use of independent shippers. On November 29, 2010, Homeland Security countered by shutting down 82 websites that had been identified as sources for these goods.
In October 2011, an international pact formed by eight nations, including the United States, signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) to protect intellectual property rights for in member countries against trademark and copyright infringement. While it is effective in some respects, the countries who are the primary originating sources for these counterfeit goods have not signed the agreement, which no doubt bars its overall effectiveness.
What is most frightening and a real source of concern to this writer is the issue of Counterfeit Drugs that are available for sale, especially on the Internet. Many of these counterfeit drugs, be they purported brand or generic medications, have been found to contain harmful ingredients, devoid of the true active formula(s), with no therapeutic or medicinal values. Consumers looking to save money use Google or other search engines to locate sources of “cheap drugs” or “prescription drugs” to compare prices and buy them, sometimes without a doctor’s prescription. Many of the online “pharmacies” are not licensed and are located outside of the United States. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a portal on its website to report suspected counterfeit drugs and will investigate any suspicious activity through their Office of Criminal Investigations.
If you believe that you have purchased a counterfeit drug, you should never take the medication but instead preserve the suspected counterfeit product, including the packaging and shipping labels, and report it to the FDA as quickly as possible. Other resources relative to this topic and tips on safeguarding against counterfeit drugs are available online including the Mayo Clinic’s Health Information Clinic. The byline is that we all must be vigilant in purchasing prescription drugs only from known, reliable and licensed pharmacies or through distributors authorized by our health insurance providers.
For additional information related to private investigator and detective services, security risk assessment and management, litigation support, and counter surveillance services, call 1-866-629-3757 or visit our website at www.jenningssmith.com.
I was relieved to find that the primary purpose of this article is to address the rampant problem of online counterfeit pharmaceuticals. There are so many middle men resellers or counterfeit drugs that you can accurately say that everyone has encountered spam emails or banner ads while surfing at one time or many times. I know I have. I have in fact ordered pharmaceuticals online, but I had the good sense of ordering from a legitimate online pharmacy which happened to be based in Canada.
So Homeland Security can just come in and shut down fifty two web sites because they deem it necessary? What if the items being sold on the web site are authentic, do they just re-start the web site? This again feels like the government taking advantage of their roll. I could be way off base and they are actually protecting the people but it just seems odd.
I found your article to be very enlightening I am going to look that Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement up and see exactly what it states. I notice that towards the end of your article you mentioned the counterfeit drugs that are out there. As someone who doesn’t have medical insurance at this time, I can fully understand how people would want to at least try the medication they could get this way.
I saw a new report on the local TV news broadcast which featured a major bust of a huge shipment of counterfeit goods which was confiscated at the port. The authorities said these knock-offs have a street value of over twenty million dollars. It was one of the largest shipments they had ever intercepted. When the reporter showed the types of items in this shipment, it consisted of designer watches with removable generic silicone covers designed to hide the knock-off brand.
In case you haven’t been to your local flea market, you know selling counterfeit products has become common practice where people flock in person at flea markets, college campuses, salons, libraries, swap meets, and at “private homes parties” where the dealer shows you their products. Amongst the counterfeit products I have seen are handbags, clothes, watches, and colognes which have been amusingly renamed such as Essey Miyami instead of Issey Miyake. Knock-off producers have really gotten sophisticated.
This isn’t on the subject of counterfeit stuff but more the private investigator part. What does it take to become a private investigator? I have often been interested in this and I am in the market for a job right now so I thought I might ask. The counterfeit story that you published was very interesting, I have purchased some of these things in the past so that made it even more interesting to me.
If you think counterfeit products affect only designer brands, think again. They have perpetrated all kinds of products including hardware goods. Counterfeit electrical products are infecting nearly every product category in the electrical market. Manufacturers, distributors, contractors and customers face risks, ranging from liability and life safety to profitability. The problems must be addressed, and it will take the unity of the entire electrical industry to do so. I didn’t think it was possible to profit from knock-off electrical items, but I was wrong.
I have often wanted to be a private investigator but didn’t want to go to the police academy to get the license. It sounds like you have uncovered a lot of dangerous counterfeit drugs and other stuff. It always amazes me that the people that are making this stuff don’t even think about what they could do to somebody or that they could take another human life for profit.
I can’t agree more with the writers concern about the counterfeit drugs that people are making and selling without a license, this is very scary. The thought that people can take human life so casually that they would sell drugs to people that could do them harm is just astounding to me. Is the FDA going to shut down these web sites, like Homeland Security did those others?
I can’t agree more with the writers concern about the counterfeit drugs that people are making and selling without a license, this is very scary. The thought that people can take human life so casually that they would sell drugs to people that could do them harm is just astounding to me. Is the FDA going to shut down these web sites, like Homeland Security did those others?
To illustrate how rampant this problem is, I heard a report about how federal authorities seized the domain names of 150 websites accused of selling counterfeit or pirated merchandise. The seizures were announced on Cyber Monday, the day that for many shoppers kicks off the online holiday shopping season. These sites sold professional sports jerseys, golf equipment, designer handbags and sunglasses, footwear and DVDs, among other items – will now greet visitors with a seizure banner that notifies them of the federal action.
I have read reports that there are some batteries available in the market place which fraudulently display the Canon logo and other trademarks, even though they have not been designed, produced, nor licenced by Canon. Counterfeit versions of Canon lithium-ion battery packs and battery chargers, which the counterfeiters intend to be used with Canon digital cameras and Canon video camcorders, are also in circulation on various internet auction sites. This just goes to show you the vast variety of knock off products.
There may be more than a few fake Apple Stores in China, but for the moment, Cupertino’s anti-KIRF crusade seems focused squarely on New York City. According to Reuters, Apple has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against two stores in Queens, alleging that they sold unauthorized cases, headphones and other accessories for the iPhone, iPad and iPod. In the complaint, the company claims that the products in question were all emblazoned with its familiar fruit logo, along with the phrase, “Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China.”
I found your blog actually made me happy to know that I’m not the only one this has happened to, I got had on some exercise videos called P90X if you buy them from the manufacturers they were $179 but I found them online for $76 so I jumped at that. Then I found out they were from China, and you can tell by the skips and pauses they aren’t the best quality.