Federal authorities have shut down 82 websites that were selling counterfeit apparel, software, movies and other illegal goods as part of stepped up intellectual property rights enforcement.
Attorney General Eric Holder, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ron Machen announced the coordinated federal action today in a news conference at Justice Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. “Our fight to combat intellectual property crime continues,” Holder said in prepared remarks.
Holder last year established an Intellectual Property Task Force at the Department of Justice, overseen by the office of the Deputy Attorney General. The task force works with the White House’s Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Victoria Espinel; and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, known as the IPR Center, headquartered at ICE in the Department of Homeland Security
Investigators made undercover purchases from online retailers suspected of selling the illegal counterfeit goods, authorities said Monday. Some of the goods were found to have been shipped directly into the U.S. from other countries. The counterfeit goods obtained by federal agents included shoes, sports equipment, sunglasses, handbags, athletic apparel, and copyrighted music, movies and software. The U.S. then executed seize orders against the domain names of what authorities labeled “rouge” websites.
“The sale of counterfeit U.S. brands on the Internet steals the creative work of others, costs our economy jobs and revenue and can threaten the health and safety of American consumers,” Morton said in prepared remarks. The action announced today builds upon another initiative last June called Operation in Our Sites I, in which the U.S. seized the domain names of nine websites selling stolen copies of new-release films.
Major U.S. corporations from software maker Microsoft Corp. to entertainment companies like NBC Universal have lobbied for strong action from the Obama administration on IP rights. The administration, in turn, has made copyright and IP enforcement a priority.
On Nov. 18, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved strengthened anti-piracy legislation, the proposed Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, introduced by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah.)
The website domain name seizure announced today was conducted in coordination with the DOJ Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and nine U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, including the Southern District of New York; District of Columbia; Middle District of Florida; District of Colorado; Southern District of Texas; Central District of California; Northern District of Ohio; District of New Jersey; and the Western District of Washington. The Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section at DOJ headquarters in Washington also worked on the case.
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