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crimes are committed in such a blatant manner as trademark
counterfeiting. The vendors on Canal Street don't try
to hide what they do, and a person looking to buy a knock-off
Prada bag, or a fake pair of Gucci sunglasses can do so without
much effort.
But
when a vendor offers to sell a fake Louis Vuitton wallet or
Fendi purse, he or she is committing the crime of trademark
infringement. Companies whose products are being imitated
take the matter very seriously.
According
to Tim Trainer, president of the International Anti-Counterfeiting
Coalition, a lobby group that represents the interests of
many large companies, such as Microsoft and Nike, most corporations
have trademark-enforcement programs. They can consist of the
most basic protective measures, such as registering their
trademark or logo in every country where their products are
sold, to more involved efforts like hiring private investigators
to prowl the streets in search of knockoffs.
Some
of the coalition's members spend between $1 million to
$5 million a year on their enforcement programs, says
Trainer, although "all of them are reluctant to talk about
it." Trainer doesn't know why companies are loath to concede
that they go to great lengths to prevent the counterfeit trade.
"It's a funny thing," he says. "I have a problem getting a
straight answer on this myself."
Beth
Orr, who works for Burberry's public-relations agency,
says her company is "a little touchy" on the topic
of counterfeits. Nonetheless, the clothing and accessories
company tackled the problem head-on when it published a full-page
ad in the magazine Woman's Wear Daily last fall that
said the Burberry plaid was a trademark design and that unlicensed
reproduction was illegal.
Kate
Spade has an employee whose sole function is to deal with
counterfeiting, and Rolex Watch USA Inc. has a counterfeit
hotline so that anyone with information about fake watches
can leave a phone message with the details. In 1999, Hermès
sued four New York retailers for trademark infringement after
their own undercover investigation revealed that the stores
were selling bags with exactly the same design and logo as
the Hermès style. The suit was dismissed because Hermès
waited too long to bring the action.
New
York City police and customs officials do periodic sweeps
of vendors and street peddlers who sell the knockoffs.
Officer Danny Sacco of the 1st Precinct, which is responsible
for the area around Canal Street, says that their division
sends out plain-clothes detectives a couple of times a week
to make arrests for trademark counterfeiting and unlicensed
street vending.
In
1995, the Los Angeles Times reported a bust by customs agents
following a two-and-a-half-year nation-wide investigation
dubbed "Operation Pipeline," that resulted in the arrest
of 21 suspects and the seizure of more than $27 million
of counterfeit merchandise across the country. The goods
were shipped from Korea and entered the U.S. through ports
in New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles and Seattle.
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