John Morten, Director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the US opened the afternoon plenary of the Global Congress Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy, saying that IP enforcement is a high priority for Obama administration, with the Attorney General and himself personally invested in the fight. This year will have over 1500 enforcement actions, and many prosecutions, with people going to jail on a regular basis. They are particularly focused on the internet, and have carried out actions through “Operation In Our Sites,” which had two rounds recently and a third is happening now – yesterday ICE seized ten domain names of sites offering infringing content. But actions by the US alone will not work – we need international cooperation, and we all need to think about how to win the hearts and minds of ordinary people. We should no longer speak in heavy legalese; we need to speak in terms that resonate to people in the street.
Aline Plançon, Manager, Medical Product Counterfeiting and Pharmaceutical Crime (MPCPC) Unit, INTERPOL said that their agency needs greater cooperation and greater awareness of the danger. Not only can counterfeit drugs harm people immediately, but they can lead to growing resistance to some drugs. A good step would be the establishment of an international governance body that would let us put all of our resources into the struggle.
The next speaker, Michael Deats of the Enforcement & Intelligence, Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, United Kingdom is responsible for the enforcement of medicines legislation in the UK. He said that counterfeit medicines used to be thought of as just a developing country problem (especially with diseases like AIDS and malaria), but with the exponential growth of the internet, that changed. Counterfeiters now have access to a global market, including both consumers and B2B services. The internet has also given rise to self diagnosis and self medicating by consumers, especially with lifestyle drugs, a trend that has not been lost on counterfeiters. In Southeast Asia, a counterfeit drug for malaria contained traces of Viagra, indicating that the producers hadn’t cleaned their machines and were making both drugs. International drug regulators agree on the need for effective, affordable medicines. In the UK, we approach counterfeiting by 1) communicating the threats in a balanced, professional way; 2) training doctors to look for signs that people’s drugs are fake; 3) collaboration between police and regulators; 4) regulation, vigilance, market surveillance for at-risk products. Prosecution is necessary not just to deter, but also to understand what’s going on behind the scenes.
Philippe Lamoureux, Director General of the French pharmaceutical industry association LEEM said we need to have industry-government cooperation to fight counterfeits. In France, there is a strategic council for healthcare industries that meets every eighteen months, and a rising awareness in the council that fighting counterfeits is a priority. In developing countries, there is one set of issues where counterfeit drugs are often targeted at countries where the populations are most vulnerable due to factors like poverty, lack of infrastructure, and a history of trafficking. In developed countries, lifestyle and performance enhancing drugs are most often counterfeited, and it often is done through websites that sell to gullible consumers. WHO says that half of the drugs sold online are fake. They are often sold in small consignments, which makes them hard to detect. Companies that provide internet services need to help fight online distribution of counterfeit drugs. Another thing that would help combat piracy is the Council of Europe Medicrime Convention. This would require states to have legislation that criminalizes the selling of counterfeit drugs.
Catherine Van Reeth, Director General of the Toy Industries of Europe stressed that while all products need to be safe, the toy industry has to be hyper-vigilant about safety. We must prove that our products are safe, even when misused by kids, who don’t always understand risk and who routinely do unsafe things. We have new directive that obliges toy manufacturers to conduct extra tests and save the results for 10 years, which is expensive but necessary. Counterfeiters do not do this and the dangers are obvious – counterfeit toys can have toxic substances, or contain pieces that come off and can be swallowed. The EU rapid alert system for dangerous products frequently includes counterfeit toys. Counterfeit toys also damage the reputation of the firms that they copy. Many parents think they have the real figure. We think up to 10 percent of toys are counterfeits or pirated copies. One problem is a product that is imitated but not exactly – for instance with a similar but not identical name. Since this type of product doesn’t use the brand name, the producers can’t be accused of IPR theft and in most cases, this clears them of liability. There’s no EU legislation against “parasitic copying,” but we’d like there to be. Finally, many of our companies are small companies that often lack the resources to fight counterfeiters and pirates. In legal proceedings, the burden of proof is on them, and they may lack representation or the money to wage a legal fight.
Next there was a round of questions from the moderator.
John Morten was asked how companies can report counterfeits to ICE. He said there are many ways. Companies can contact their ICE attaché. They can also contact the National Intellectual Property Rights center in Washington DC – it’s a one stop shop for industry that is run by ICE, the FBI, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Defense and the Postal Service. You can also make referrals online. One common question is if we’ll investigate transshipments, and the answer is ‘yes, we do.’
Philippe Lamoureux said the best way to protect Europe from counterfeits was to focus on the internet. Counterfeiting in developed countries is peculiar, and it can be very hard to identify the fakes.
Catherine Van Reeth says the surest way to avoid counterfeit toys is to go to a reputable retailer, one where you know you can go back if there’s a problem. She warned (when prompted) against buying used toys.
