Some people may not think fake goods are a big deal, but theft of American intellectual property is a serious crime. Pirated goods can threaten the health and safety of American consumers, rob legitimate businesses of billions in revenue and even threaten our national security. Think counterfeit pharmaceuticals, luxury handbags, shoes, perfume, batteries, cigarettes and electronics.
Along with keeping our borders safe from terrorists, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is also charged with guarding against intellectual property theft and the infringement of U.S. patents, copyrights and trademarks. And the job of frontline CBP employees has gotten harder in recent years. Counterfeit and pirated goods are becoming more sophisticated, making it more difficult to distinguish legitimate goods from fakes.
NTEU commends our CBP members who stepped up and played a role in seizing more than 28,000 shipments with international property rights violations last fiscal year. That’s a 25 percent increase over fiscal 2014. If the items had been genuine, they would have sold for an estimated $1.3 billion.
As their jobs got tougher, so did these CBP employees.