US cracks down on fake items sold online

WASHINGTON • The Trump administration planned to unveil efforts yesterday to crack down on counterfeit and pirated goods sold on major e-commerce sites and urge companies to do more to vet third-party sellers and increase self-policing efforts.

Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and White House adviser Peter Navarro were to be among officials at a news conference to discuss the effort at the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Centre in Arlington, Virginia, administration officials said on Thursday.

Foreign sellers face little risk of prosecution, an administration official said, so strong US government action "is necessary to fundamentally realign incentive structures".

According to a Department of Homeland Security report cited by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday and confirmed by an administration official, law enforcement agencies are planning "immediate actions" to identify counterfeit goods and seek "all available statutory authorities to pursue civil fines and other penalties against these entities".

The Trump administration is also seeking legal authority "to explicitly permit the government to seek injunctive relief against third-party marketplaces and other intermediaries dealing in counterfeit merchandise", the official confirmed.

The official said that if companies adopt the best practices, the administration believes it will substantially reduce trafficking in counterfeit and pirated goods.

Last April, President Donald Trump ordered a crackdown on counterfeit products on third-party online marketplaces, while asking for more information on how the US can better track and curb such sales.

According to a memo signed by Mr Trump, the value of global trade in counterfeit and pirated goods may rise to half a trillion dollars (S$675 billion) a year, with about 20 per cent of this trade infringing on US intellectual property.

Mr Navarro had said last April: "The President has decided it is time to clean up this Wild West of counterfeiting and trafficking."

Companies including Amazon.com, eBay and China's Alibaba Group have policies that ban counterfeit goods and have pointed to their investments in programmes to keep fakes off their platforms.

Amazon said last year it "invests heavily in proactive measures to prevent counterfeit goods from reaching our stores. In 2018 alone, we spent more than US$400 million fighting counterfeits, fraud and other forms of abuse".

A China-US trade deal signed this month requires China to adopt improved criminal and civil procedures to combat online infringement, pirated and counterfeit goods.

REUTERS