Is US Overstating Health/Safety Risks Of Counterfeits?

A new analysis shows that while the United States government suggests intellectual property enforcement efforts at the border are largely aimed at protecting Americans from health and safety risks of counterfeit goods, the real story is different.

“The Administration’s 2013 Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement identifies ‘protection of public health and safety’ as one of its ‘primary concerns’,” says a new analysis posted to the infojustice.org website [corrected] by attorney Jonathan Band of policybandwidth in Washington, DC. “A press release issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on March 24, 2014, concerning its intellectual property seizures in fiscal year 2013 suggests that its IP enforcement efforts are largely targeted at preventing the importation of counterfeit products that threaten health and safety.”

“The actual statistics, however, reveal a somewhat different story: that DHS is either exaggerating the danger posed by counterfeit goods to health and safety, or it is not taking that danger seriously enough,” Band writes.

“[F]or the past three years, counterfeit goods threatening safety and security represent significantly less than 20% of the goods seized, measured either by the value of the goods or the number of seizures. Moreover, the percentage of dangerous counterfeit goods is decreasing,” the analysis found. By contrast, the majority of seized goods were luxury goods, like handbags, watches and jewelry.

Read the analysis here.