7 October 2008
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Intellectual property (IP) crime
Trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy: involvement of transnational organized criminals. Trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy are serious Intellectual Property (IP) crimes that defraud consumers, threaten the health of patients, cost society billions of dollars in lost government revenues, foreign investments or business profits and violate the rights of trademark, patent, and copyright owners. Fake products pose a significant safety threat to consumers worldwide. Unsuspecting customers and patients put their health, and even lives, in jeopardy each time they use fake medicines, alcoholic beverages, food products and travel in automobiles or aircraft maintained with substandard counterfeit parts. Transnational IP crime knows no boundaries and is evident all over the world. Evidence shows that transnational organized crime groups are actively involved in trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy. These crimes are linked with money laundering, the illicit trafficking of drug, firearms and other types of organized crime. In some instances paramilitary terrorist organizations have traded in counterfeit and pirated goods to maintain their organizations and fund their activities. Worldwide losses caused by the involvement of transnational organized criminals in fake product manufacture and distribution are estimated to be hundreds of billions of dollars annually. The social, health and economic damages arising from the production and sale of fake products are substantial. There are many victims of transnational organized IP crime including people suffering from life threatening diseases who unknowingly use counterfeit medicines containing little or no active ingredients. INTERPOL’s fight against IP crime There is an urgent need for national and international enforcement authorities to coordinate their efforts and cooperate with the IP right holders in the private sector. Stakeholders in the fight against transnational organized IP crime are not just consumers, patients and IP owners, but also governments, the judiciary, the media and law enforcement authorities. Law enforcement authorities including national police forces are at the forefront of collective efforts to combat the activities of transnational organized criminals. However, there is often a lack of trained investigators and the other resources needed to effectively address transnational organized IP crime. There is an urgent need for national and international enforcement authorities to coordinate their efforts and cooperate with the IP right holders in the private sector. In October 2000, the INTERPOL General Assembly approved the addition of IP crime to the Organization’s official mandate. Shortly afterwards, the INTERPOL Intellectual Property Action Group (IIPCAG) was formed as a public-private partnership. Core membership of the Action Group consists of representatives from national law enforcement and customs authorities, international intergovernmental organizations, cross-industry private sector representative bodies and patent protection entities. The Actions Group’s mission is to provide an advisory group function; assist INTERPOL to develop strategies to combat transnational organized IP crime; and, encourage National Central Bureaus (NCBs) and national law enforcement authorities in INTERPOL member countries to dedicate more resources to IP crime enforcement.
The INTERPOL IP Crime Program is constantly evolving to meet challenges posed by transnational organized crime. Combining the efforts of INTERPOL and INTERPOL’s Intellectual Property Crime Action Group (IIPCAG) has broadened and strengthened partnerships with the private sector to improve the effectiveness of collective action to expand INTERPOL’s capacity to tackle trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy. One of the objectives is to develop the Database on International Intellectual Property (DIIP) Crime to improve the exchange of information and intelligence on transnational organized IP crime. Designed to identify links between transnational cross-industry organized IP crime activity and other types of organized crime, the database is used to inform and facilitate law enforcement interventions in transnational organized IP crime. IP Crime Program Objectives
INTERPOL and the IIPCAG members work together in partnership to achieve these objectives. They also have identified the following priorities: Information exchange and maximizing benefits arising from DIIP
It will improve the information flow between stakeholders and lead to more effective national and regional IP rights enforcement.
INTERPOL facilitates and coordinates regional law enforcement interventions in transnational and organized IP crime. Since 2004 INTERPOL has acted as a catalyst for interventions into transnational organized criminal activity in South America and South East Asia. Partnership action with national police and customs agencies supported by affected private sector entities has led to the arrest of hundreds of suspects and seizure of millions of dollars of counterfeit and pirate goods. It has also led to the identification and disruption of a criminal conspiracy producing counterfeit medicines on an industrialized scale and undermining legitimate efforts by regional health authorities to cure patients suffering from life threatening diseases. The development of the DIIP and increased flow of information for action will result in a more systematic INTERPOL regional operational capability to facilitate and coordinate law enforcement interventions in transnational organized crime. Training
Contact point
Public awareness
Links between IP crime and the financing of terrorist activities Many terrorist groups engage in a variety of organized crimes to fund their activities. As terrorist groups tend to act in similar ways to transnational organized crime groups, it is important to carefully monitor how their activities evolve. There is general agreement that IP crime is a high-profit, low-risk crime, which inevitably motivates criminals to engage in this type of activity. It is clear paramilitary terrorist organizations have traded in counterfeit and pirated goods to maintain their organizations and fund their activities. In light of this, INTERPOL remains concerned about the possibility that some other terrorist groups would seize the opportunity to finance their activities through IP crime. It is an issue that needs to be carefully monitored, and evidence of terrorist groups actually engaging in IP crime must be collected in a systematic fashion, if and when it surfaces. IIPCAG The current members of INTERPOL’s Intellectual Property Crime Action Group IIPCAG are:
INTERPOL is interested in cooperating with law enforcement authorities, the public and private sectors in the fight against transnational organized IP crime. If you represent one of these entities and would like to have further information about INTERPOL and IIPCAG or to discuss IP crime matters in your country please contact:
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