Combating counterfeiters

摘要

The estimates are staggering-$650 billion lost every year worldwide, as much as $250 billion of that in the United States alone. The culprits? Counterfeiters. Since the early 1990s, trade in counterfeits has grown at eight times the rate of legitimate trade, according to the U.S. Dept. of Commerce. The Dept. of Homeland Security has initiated more than 31,000 seizures of counterfeit products since 2001, with an estimated retail value of more than $482 million, according to Commerce Dept. figures; counterfeit-related seizures by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol rose 125 percent from 2000 to 2005. Seizures were up 80 percent from 2005 to 2006 alone, according to the Commerce Dept.