Seattle Trademark Lawyer

Not to lean too heavily on the New York Times, but I enjoyed a just-in-time-for-Christmas article it published last week on counterfeiting.

The paper reported the feds recently made 177 seizures in the U.S. and Mexico that netted 327,000 counterfeit items worth $77 million and led to 33 arrests (including three in South Korea). The haul was a bit unusual because it included a large number of low-end goods: Christmas lights, football jerseys, and Angry Birds toys. Many of the fakes pose a health risk.

“Counterfeit batteries are going to explode, a counterfeit electrical cord might catch fire and burn the house down,” the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. “Toys are always a concern. You never know what’s going into the actual manufacturing in terms of the chemicals. Obviously you don’t know whether they have been tested in terms of, are they safe for toddlers.”

That’s equally true with counterfeit medicine and counterfeit air bags, which he also mentioned.

The moral of the story is it’s not all about fake Rolexes and knock-off Gucci hand bags for counterfeiters any more, though there are plenty of those out there as well.