US Patent Office Collects Valuable Insights on Preventing Counterfeiting and Piracy

In May, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) invited feedback from stakeholders on current and future strategies to prevent counterfeiting and piracy (first reported in the June issue of Authentication & Brand News™).

Originally scheduled to run until August, the USPTO extended the comment period to 25 September. Comments were submitted by a wide range of industry stakeholders, including the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, Amazon, Meta, US Chamber of Commerce, U L Solutions, Corsearch, Partnership for Safe Medicines, Crop Life India, Centre for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection, American Apparel and Footwear Association, Motion Picture Association, Copyright Alliance, National Basketball Association, National Football League, and US Copyright Office.

Solution providers HP, U-NICA, and Authentic Vision also shared their inputs. HP shared its anti-counterfeit fraud programme, which educates consumers, forms partnerships with customs authorities, and works with government authorities, to seize counterfeiting products intended for online and offline sale. It also recommends cooperation between the US government and the private sector to expand consumer awareness, develop efforts to combat the online proliferation of counterfeits, and consider technological protection measures.

Most stakeholders emphasised awareness, detection, disruption, deterrence, monitoring, strict penalties for counterfeiters, regulation for e-commerce sites, collaboration, and technological protection measures. Some of the more interesting inputs included: 

• IPR awareness amongst children.

• Rating system for the public to track seller history, including IPR violations.

• Vetting marketplace sellers and advertisers on social media.

• Devising more robust search engine delisting strategies with web search providers, in order to entirely remove popular pirate brands from search results.

• Mandate greater accountability for online domain name registries, registrars and social media platforms.

• Regulating online sales of pill moulds and a penalty-focus approach to discourage pill press usage in counterfeiting activity.

• CAPP advocates for initiatives focused on securing IPRs for Indigenous and Native American communities.

The USPTO will host an online and in-person roundtable discussion on 3 October at its headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The event is open to the public and attendance is free – although advance registration is required. A recording will be available for anyone unable to participate. Discussion topics will include: 

• The recent evolution and growth in counterfeiting and piracy.

• The harm caused by counterfeit and pirated products.

• Successful collaborative efforts between public and private entities to combat the sale of counterfeit and pirated products.

• Effective technological solutions used to stem the flow of counterfeit and pirated products into the marketplace.

• The future of anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy strategies.

For more information, visit https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/events/roundtable-future-strategies-anti-counterfeiting-and-anti-piracy.