Nearly $55,000 in counterfeit pairs of Nike Air Jordans sneakers that arrived as air cargo near Washington Dulles International Airport have been intercepted by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers.
The sneakers arrived in seven parcels on 15 December from China, and were all destined to the same Alexandria, Virginia address. CBP completed the seizure of 400 pairs of various models of Nike Air Jordans. The manufacturer suggested retail price, if authentic, was $54,715.
CBP officers routinely examine imports and suspected the sneakers were counterfeit. Officers working with CBP’s Consumer Products and Mass Merchandising Centers for Excellence and Expertise, the agency’s trade experts, verified the sneakers as counterfeits through the trademark holder.
CBP and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized a record number of goods that violated Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in 2016, with the number of IPR seizures increasing 9% to more than 31,560. The total estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of the seized goods, had they been genuine, would have been more than $1.38bn.
As a result of CBP enforcement efforts, ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested 451 individuals, obtained 304 indictments, and received 272 convictions related to intellectual property crimes in the year.
“The theft of intellectual property and the trade in substandard and often dangerous goods threatens America’s innovation economy and consumer health and safety, and it generates proceeds that fund criminal activities and organized crime,” said Casey Owen Durst, CBP’s field operations director in Baltimore, the agency’s operational commander in the Mid-Atlantic region. “Intellectual property rights enforcement is a Customs and Border Protection priority trade issue, and a mission that we take seriously.”
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By GlobalDataCBP launched the ‘Truth Behind Counterfeits’ campaign to raise consumer awareness to the growing impacts of purchasing counterfeit and pirated goods, including health and safety concerns, the loss of American jobs, and the support of criminal activity.
