Olympic Watchdog Makes Dent on Counterfeit Merchandise

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 21, 2002

Olympic Watchdog Makes Dent on Counterfeit Merchandise

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Those who are responsible for protection of Olympic-related intellectual property rights (IPR) announced on Wednesday that they have made a dent on the counterfeit merchandise industry during the Winter Olympic Games here.

Since the opening of the Winter Games on February 8, as many as 58 seizures of counterfeit Olympic merchandise have been made with the value exceeding several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Most of the merchandise seized are Olympic-themed pins which are mainly imported and manufactured from Asian countries, said Don Daufenbach, U.S. Customs Senior Special agent.

"Tens of thousands of counterfeit pins alone have been seized," said Daufenbach. "We are making a significant dent in that counterfeit trafficking."

The major force in the IPR protection is the Operation Winter Rings (OWR), a multi discipline task force comprised of 20 U.S Custom's agents, a Customs Import Specialist, Laboratory Scientists and three FBI agents.

Their efforts have resulted in the execution of four federal research warrants but no charges have been filed at this time.

Penalty in the United States for selling counterfeit merchandise can be up to two million dollars fines or a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Daufenbach said that the perpetrators can be arrested or face criminal charges but for the most of the time they simply confiscate such merchandises and deliver warnings to them.

But if they repeated their offences, then the OWR will "have to take action ", he added. The OWR has conducted a "very much joint effort" with other departments in the Olympics IPR protection, including the International Olympic Committee, the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Salt Lake Organising Committee.

Sid Siders, U.S. Customs Resident Agent in Charge, said that such bodies have been instrumental in providing Customs with immediate assistance and verification of possible IPR violations.

"They are not law enforcement agencies but very valuable for advice," said Sid Siders.

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