It began in 2007 with the sale of stolen cell phones and PlayStation 2 systems to a fencing operation in Detroit, one with alleged links to the extremist organization Hezbollah.
Over two years, the ring bought more than 20,000 stolen phones, hundreds of video consoles, and counterfeit Nike shoes. The group’s appetite grew. It began to [...]
Entries from November 30th, 2009
News: FBI charges alleged arms trader, 12 others
November 30th, 2009 No Comments
Tags: Counterfeit Goods · Fake Goods · Hezbollah · Philadelphia · stolen goods · terrorism · US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
News: Music download site BlueBeat hit with a preliminary injunction; site’s founder responds
November 23rd, 2009 No Comments
A federal judge in Los Angeles granted Capitol Records’ request for a preliminary injunction today against a San Jose-based website that had put the Beatles catalog online for digital downloading at 25 cents a track, without permission from the band or its record label.
U.S. Central District Court Judge John F. Walter said the defendant in [...]
Tags: anti-piracy · BlueBeat.com · Capitol Records · Copyright Infringement · digital downloads · EMI Music · Music Piracy · RIAA
News: After luxury bags, counterfeit luxury wines
November 23rd, 2009 No Comments
Petrus, Romanee-Conti, Chateau d’Yquem – wines coveted by connoisseurs, and targeted by counterfeiters.
According to French wine professionals, a handful of rare and fine wines face the same threat from fraud as luxury handbags and designer sunglasses.
Trafficking in fake wine has “always existed a little, but it’s definitely amplified with the rising prices of fine wines”, [...]
Tags: auction houses · Bordeaux wines · Chateau d'Yquem · china · Counterfeit Goods · fake wine · Federation des Exportateurs de Vins et Spiritueux de France (FEVS) · France · Petrus · Romanee-Conti
News: Christie’s to Value Vintage Gucci
November 23rd, 2009 No Comments
On a mission to enhance the brand’s heritage and to fight counterfeiting, especially online, Gucci is announcing a dramatic new strategy in collaboration with the auction house Christie’s.
The project includes both the opening of a Gucci museum in Florence next year, in time for the brand’s 90th anniversary in 2011, and an online evaluation process [...]
Tags: Christie's · Counterfeiting · Fake Goods · Fake Luxury · Gucci · Gucci Collector
News: Knock it off: Global treaty against media piracy won’t work in Asia
November 18th, 2009 No Comments
For the geekerati, it was a Pentagon Papers moment.
Last week, the anonymous “total transparency” site Wikileaks unveiled a new cache of classified documents — memos revealing the top-secret terms of a proposed international treaty, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, being negotiated by the world’s biggest content-creating regions.
“The leaks confirm everything that we feared about the secret [...]
Tags: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) · Asia · Copyright Infringement · Counterfeit Goods · digital piracy · file sharing · Intellectual Property · internet service providers · IP Protection · Shanzhai
News: Handset makers battle growing exports of chinese knockoffs
November 18th, 2009 No Comments
Exports of Chinese-made knockoff cell phones are on the rise, and cell phone makers like Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are scrambling to deal with the problem. Market researcher iSuppli recently reported that the production of knockoff cell phones in China jumped 44 percent from 101 million units last year to 145 million this year. [...]
Tags: cell phone piracy · china · Counterfeit Goods · knockoff cell phones · LG Electronics · Nokia · Samsung
News: Ed Hardy’s Tattoo Art is Booty for Digital Pirates
November 18th, 2009 No Comments
Don Ed Hardy, the famed tattoo artist, must smell good. Make that really good. Ed Hardy-themed perfumes have become some of the most popular fragrances in the world with retailers buying $85 million worth of them so far this year.
Mr. Hardy’s colorful and exotic tattoo designs-cum-artwork seem to help sell just about anything. Cruise around [...]
Tags: Counterfeiting · digital piracy · Ed Hardy · Fake Goods · Google · linking · online counterfeiting
Press Release: Harman Becker Partners With OpSec Security for Optimization of Online Sales Channels
November 19th, 2009 No Comments
MUNICH–The internet is an important distribution channel for many companies today. However, this possibility offers both opportunities and risks thus requiring particular attention. In order to optimise, to control and simultaneously to strengthen online distribution for the Becker brand as well as to detect dubious traders, Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH, producer and marketer of [...]
Tags: Ebay · Harman Becker · Online Brand Protection · online distribution · online intelligence · online sales · OpSec Security