{Qayse Nori, 22, of Normandy Drive, Hayes, appeared for sentencing at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 31 January and was also ordered to pay £500 court costs. He pleaded guilty to nine offences at an earlier hearing on 17 January.

Nori had a licence to trade at a market in Southwark and a search of his van near his home revealed a quantity of counterfeit toys, fake designer handbags and other dodgy goods. The toys seized include Ben 10, Disney and Spiderman replicas.}

This is why criminals like this line of work to branch out in, the downside of getting caught does not have stiff penalties like actual drug smuggling and selling.. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{Pattaya police arrested the owners and staff of many mobile phone shops on the second floor of Tukcom Pattaya , South Pattaya selling copy mobile phones. The value of the seized knock-off mobile phones is 1.6 million THB.

The value of the seized knock-off mobile phones is 1.6 million THB.}

Which is equivalent to $50,000, still quite a large haul. Thailand has it's counterfeit problems. and apparently Apple needs to pay attention to this country, as fake iPhones can slip into the US from Thailand. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{Addressing a one-day sensitisation workshop at a Busia hotel yesterday, the US economic officer in Nairobi Alexander Hall said his country has planned "an ambitious programme" that will entail holding a series of meetings and other events to raise public awareness on the dangers posed by counterfeit goods. "We are focusing on issues that relate to international trade and the economic effect of the products to the country, especially the substandard ones," he said.}

Kenya is not a large counterfeiting hub, as the country itself consumes many counterfeits. Due to poverty. The problem is that any country that is not strong in anti-counterfeiting becomes a target.(Tony Zafiropoulos)

{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." The suit also demands that one of the stores, called Apple Story (seriously), change its name to avoid confusion with the real retail outlet and that both vendors disclose full lists of people who both supplied and purchased the goods.}

Apple is trying its hardest to cut down on counterfeit products wherever it can. They are sending experts to find the counterfeits, not all of us are experts though. So we would have to find a way to authenticate the products. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{This is a small part of the £1million haul of counterfeit goods seized by police when they raided Wembley Market yesterday morning.

A four-hour search of nine stalls, and a house in Midlands, resulted in the confiscation of more than 5,000 items with a street value of more than £1m.}

Another small haul of counterfeits gets caught. It's a never ending tide. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{Dubai authorities locked in a clampdown on copyrights and intellectual property violations seized a whopping 580,000 fake products in 2011 and a large part of the offences involved mobile phones.}

The number of counterfeits increased 28% from the year before. Which means that Dubai in the UAEis still a conduit in the trafficking of counterfeits.

Counterfeit electrical products constitute an astonishing $300 million to $400 million crime annually. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), 13 percent of all counterfeit products seized are electrical products, ranking them second among all category totals.In 2008, NECA organized an industry-wide initiative to increase awareness of the increasing risk counterfeit electrical products present. The Anti-Counterfeit Products Initiative, www.counterfeitscankill.org, is endorsed by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED), and Underwriters Laboratory (UL)}

The stakes are definitely higher in fake electrical products. If the electrical wiring is not made to specifications it will catch fire in the right circumstances. And then instead of running the circuit it fails and causes an accident. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{Picking up a cheap jersey from a street vendor this weekend could be tempting — but the national hockey organization wants you to know this does more harm than good.

“People don’t realize they’re buying counterfeits,” says Tom Prochnow, NHL vice-president of legal and business affairs. “We’re trying to educate these people specifically.”}

Counterfeits have to become a higher importance for people to truly pay attention. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{Pharmaceutical products formed the major portion of the counterfeit goods from India seized by the American authorities during the year of 2011 as India and Pakistan made it into the `top ten’ list of source countries pushing counterfeit goods into the US.

China continued to remain at the top of the list by accounting for 62 per cent of counterfeit goods seized by the US authorities during the year. India stood third, though it accounted for just 3 per cent of the goods seized after Hong Kong which contributed 18 per cent, as per the official report by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on International trade.}

India is also increasing counterfeit products in a large way. Although China still has the lead. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{A young boy is killed by using a fake electrical plug for his personal computer game not knowing it was fake. From electronics to fake fish, fake tools, fake vodka, fake organic foods.}

Mr. Nejman has created a good blog discussing actual stories with the dangers behind counterfeit products. A faulty circuit breaker can fail, cause a fire and then cause a death to a young boy. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{Counterfeit consumer products and producer goods which are closely related to farmers' lives, including home appliances and fertilizer, will be the targets of the crackdown, according to a circular jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Position and nine other ministries and offices.}

Assuming China is trying to do what this mini story suggests, It would be a step in the right direction. It is so hard to tell what is actually happening in China. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{Brian Bartoe, 36, pleaded guilty Friday to trafficking in counterfeit goods. Prosecutors say the fake jerseys, primarily Bills and Sabres, were made in China and bore counterfeit trademarks. Bartoe received them between September 2009 and April 2010 until U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted shipments.}

I wanted to highlight one person and their decision to sell counterfeits - this method is multiplied a hundred times across the nation and thousands of times across the world. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{Canadian scammers are buying iPad 2s, replacing them in their original packaging with ZipLoc bags filled with modeling clay, "professionally shrink-wrapping" the boxes, then returning them for refunds, absconding with the precious fondleslabs.

The precisely weighted, shrinkwrapped packages containing the clay-filled bags are then resold by unwitting stores to unwitting customers such as scam victim Mark Sandhu, who bought what he thought was an iPad 2 as a Christmas gift for his wife.}

I think it is a clever counterfeit/criminal effort. The problem with real counterfeits is that they are harder to distinguish than obviously clay iPads. these were made to return devices and pocket the money or some other kind of scam. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{SOPA, on the other hand, stands for Stop Online Piracy Act, also known as House Bill 3261 or H.R. 3261. It is a bill that was introduced in the US Congress on October 26, 2011, by House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar Smith and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Presented to the House Judiciary Committee, it builds on the similar PRO-IP Act of 2008 and the corresponding Senate bill, the PROTECT IP Act.

Companies like Reddit and Wikipedia will go black on January 18 to protest against SOPA and PIPA because they think it will give enormous power to the government to censor the internet. }

The activists believe that shining the light on this SOPA legislation will help defeat it. It is likely that SOPA legislation has overstepped it's boundaries, although it is an attempt at curbing counterfeit goods websites the enforcement and privacy issues surrounding this is what the activists have a problem with. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{Officials say that Chinese manufacturers are intensifying their efforts to “counterfeit” Da Buer (Dabur) and Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) and other Indian products selling consumer goods giant, damage the legitimacy of these brands, annual losses of up to 50 billion U.S. dollars.

“The Da Buer large number of counterfeit products from China, we carried out in China at least 20 raids, but the Chinese did not take appropriate action.” Da Buer, India’s fourth large consumer products company.}

China only takes appropriate action when it behooves themselves, by setting up high profile stings for the cameras, but when the standard counterfeit operations come along they are not as interested. As this report indicates. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{A MAN who ran an illegal business modifying games consoles for four years claimed he didn't know what he was doing was wrong when trading standards finally caught up with him.The 42-year-old was handed a 12 month community order and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work after a successful prosecution by Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards.

Burkey first came to the attention of trading standards in November 2010 after it received information illegal goods and services were being offered for sale on the website.}

This is a clear case of a person who modified game consoles on his own and tried to sell them online. The problem is that people do not take intellectual property rights seriously.. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{The world's leading golf equipment manufacturers have pulled together to close 62 websites offering counterfeit goods to customers.

Manufacturers including Titleist, TaylorMade, Callaway, Ping and Cleveland are part of The US Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group who have announced that a preliminary injunction has been issued by the Southern District Court of Florida to shut down 62 websites where counterfeit clubs were sold.

In 2009 Briton Gary Bellchambers was jailed for four years for his part in the world's biggest ever eBay fraud where he sold more than £2m worth of counterfeit equipment.}

This is an interesting development, the golf companies used the district court of Florida to close the counterfeit goods websites. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{"Counterfeiting in China has reached a crisis point." This common view is heard from many foreign executives and government officials. The problem appears to be getting worse each year: Not only is the quality of counterfeits improving, counterfeit goods are appearing in more overseas markets.The problems with intellectual property (IP) infringements are, however, not an issue just for the PRC government. Many foreign companies have done little to protect their IP rights in China, leaving their products vulnerable to counterfeiting. In addition, as a senior official of the PRC Ministry of Public Security pointed out at a recent conference jointly sponsored by the World Customs Organization and Interpol, it is often foreigners who supply the machines to make counterfeits and buy the counterfeits that are produced.}

It is good to see this again, there is a page up on alibaba that has a good article up. It is still apt today, and remember that alibaba is the ebay of China. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{Opening arguments began this week in a lawsuit filed by luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton against San Antonio’s Eisenhauer flea market. The French company says the flea market allowed vendors to sell counterfeit products and is seeking $18 million.

Louis Vuitton’s lawyer said in opening arguments that the company sent representatives to the Eisenhauer Market and found as many as 15 vendors selling fake Louis Vuitton products, the San Antonio Express-News reports.}

Louis Vuitton also has sued Ebay in the past for allegedly helping sell counterfeits, so this is not out of the ordinary. This is an obvious move to push flea markets across the world to quit selling fake bags masquerading as Louis Vuitton bags.

The problem is that some of the bags are obviously fake and customers know they are not Louis Vuitton and they still buy them since they are cheaper.

All arguments used by consumer advocates in the past in these pages. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{Theft of American intellectual property is a serious crime, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced today that their vigorous, ongoing efforts to protect America from the trade in counterfeit and pirated goods during fiscal year 2011 resulted in 24,792 seizures, a 24 percent increase over 2010.

Despite the significant increase in the number of seizures, the domestic value for seizures in fiscal year 2011 decreased by five percent to $178.9 million and the manufacturer’s suggested retail price declined slightly to $1.1 billion. This is primarily due to a shift toward using international mail, express courier and consolidated shipping services to import counterfeit and pirated goods.}

As the report stated, the health care fakes increased, but the value decreased. Maybe there is smaller items being counterfeited in 2011 versus 2010. Or at least of the items faked only the smaller ones were caught. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{Last year, more than 60,000 pieces of counterfeit merchandise valued at more than $1 million overall were seized by Collegiate Licensing Company.

So, who are these vendors?

One cited in Atlanta was the man selling the shirts with the expletives. He said he planned to keep $8 of the $20 shirt cost, with $12 going to his boss. He expected to make $1,500 to $2,000 that day before he was stopped by CLC investigators and Atlanta police for vending without a permit.}

The interesting thing is there was a conversation with a vendor, where he made $8 and the owner would make $12. in an area where one can make $2000 per day. It is no wonder that there are plenty of counterfeiters trying to ply their craft.

(Tony Zafiropoulos)

At an AQSIQ work conference, the administration's chief Zhi Shuping said that the administration's work last year focused on inspections of dairy products, liquor, meat and food additives, as well as intellectual property rights infringements.}

I wonder how many counterfeits there were actually produced in China? Probably not just the amount seized. If 10-20% of the total counterfeits get seized then there were $6.4 to $7.2 Billion counterfeits created. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{In the wake of the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, customs officials and the NHL seized over 1,600 counterfeit items with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $350,000.

Approximately 150 international mail parcels were seized and nine vendors have been investigated since December 28.}

All special sporting events get extra attention from the counterfeiters. (Tony Zafiropoulos)

{IOL reports that Durban police have sized falsely branded clothing worth about R60-million from a container that was packed with fake Nike, Adidas, Puma, Daniel Hechter, Levi and Uzzi clothes and shoes.

The goods will be destroyed and Mdunge says that arrests in connection with the shipment are "imminent". The total value of counterfeit goods seized at the Durban harbour over the past year amounts to R10-billion}

10Billion South African Rands is equal to $1.24 Billion. As we noted on 12/30/11 $308 million were seized, so a total of 1.24 Billion Dollars was seized in South Africa over 2011. And as mentioned this is a huge amount for South Africa, as their GDP is much smaller than the US. (Tony Zafiropoulos)