Bush administration takes anticounterfeit initiative to Asia

Bush administration takes anticounterfeit initiative to Asia    A handful of Bush administration officials are in Asia April 11-21 to gain support for an anticounterfeit merchandise initiative.
   The administration launched the program, “Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy” (STOP), in October 2004 to help American companies secure and enforce their intellectual property rights in overseas markets and to prevent these goods from crossing the U.S. border.
   “This week’s meetings in Asia are an important opportunity to share information on our efforts to combat the theft of inventions, brands and ideas, to learn from the experiences of others, and to begin developing cooperative enforcement methods, cooperation and training and boosting investigation and prosecution of money laundering crimes associated with trade in fakes,” said Acting U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier in a statement Monday.
   U.S. officials of the delegation will meet with their counterparts in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, in addition to representatives from the private sector in those markets.
   In the U.S. market, the Bush administration plans to increase federal law enforcement to fight product counterfeiting.
   For example, the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection recently rolled out an intellectual property rights (IPR) risk model to supplement general IPR enforcement efforts to identify pirate and counterfeit goods at the country’s borders. Ten companies have been selected to help test the post-entry audit techniques of the model. Since 2000, the number of CBP seizures of counterfeit goods has doubled, while current seizure rates are exceeding those at this time last year, the Bush administration said.
   According to Interpol, counterfeit products comprise about 7 percent of global trade, with an estimated value $512 billion.