Free Republic

As the Trump administration has focused heavily on trade this year, it has been instructive to note the weight that has been placed on intellectual property, in both the negotiations and the results. The new USMCA treaty – the intended replacement for NAFTA – includes a whole chapter on intellectual property (IP). 2018’s wave after wave of punitive tariffs on Chinese goods, too, have been imposed in an effort to stem not only the loss of American jobs to China, but the loss of American how-to as well. Even the new layers of 10% and 25% additional tariffs on raw...

Jack Ma said many counterfeit goods are now of better quality than the genuine articles, in an apparent riposte to criticism that Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce group he founded, profits from the sale of knock-offs. The remarks by the chairman of Alibaba, which has long been dogged by accusations of tolerating the sale of counterfeit goods on platforms such as Taobao, are unlikely to be welcomed by luxury goods makers. "The problem is the fake products today are of better quality and better price than the real names. They are exactly the [same] factories, exactly the same raw materials but...

Over the past year, US citizens have become increasingly aware of the substandard consumer-level goods flowing out of China, but new reports indicate that the counterfeit products and dubious quality controls are not confined to the consumer sector. An increasingly large number of supposedly military-grade electronic components are turning out to be counterfeit commercial-grade hardware that, in some cases, is decades older than the manufacturing label indicates. The problem, to be sure, is not entirely China's fault. Back in 1994 and 1996, the Clinton Administration passed two bills, the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (1994), and the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996...

Mozzarella from Minnesota, Parmesan from Brazil, “Italian” tomatoes from China — Italy has had enough of other countries pirating some of its defining produce. Producers launched a campaign yesterday against what they call global “food fraud”. The Italian farmers’ union, Coldiretti, opened an exhibition of “counterfeit Italian foods”, purchased around the world, to raise the profile of its campaign. The exhibition in Palazzo Rospigliosi, the union’s Rome headquarters, follows a case in the European Court of Justice to prove that Parmesan cheese is not a “generic term”. Italy insists that the name refers only to Parmigiano Reggiano, made for centuries...

When you carry a fake Gucci handbag, you're carrying it for bin Laden. That's the alarm being sounded by a string of law enforcement agencies and industry associations, including Interpol, the Department of Homeland Security, the Motion Picture Association of America, and some software and luxury goods manufacturers. They say the sale of counterfeit products--including stolen intellectual property such as films, music, computer games, and imitation luxury clothing--is a lucrative and largely untraceable money source for Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and other global terrorists. To be sure, counterfeiting is a profitable business. Interpol and U.S. law enforcement agencies estimate that companies...

Displaced survivors in the Houston Astrodome can choose from counterfeit and abandoned clothing, toys and even dog food.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Buying knockoff designer handbags and Hello Kitty T-shirts on city street corners may ultimately be helping terror groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, law enforcement officials and experts testified Wednesday. Profits from faux Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Prada purses, scores of pirated DVD movies, and counterfeited clothing and other goods have been traced to supporters of terror organizations, the experts said. "We have encountered suspects who have shown great affinity for Hezbollah and its leadership," Lt. John Stedman of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department testified at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing. In one example, Stedman said, a...

Chinese Official Disputes GM Claim BEIJING - A top Chinese commerce official said Monday that General Motors Corp. hasn't provided enough evidence to prove that a local company copied one of its car models. GM China says it is investigating what it sees as similarities between its Spark minicar and Chery Automobile Corp.'s QQ model. Deputy Commerce Minister Zhang Zhigang, speaking at a news briefing to launch a one-year crackdown on rampant violations of intellectual property rights in China, said there was not enough evidence to pursue a case against the Chinese manufacturer. "Unless GM provides further evidence to prove...

JOHANESSBURG, South Africa (AP) -- Members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida and other militants are turning increasingly to crime - from dealing drugs to selling knockoff shampoos and pirated CDs - to pay for attacks amid a crackdown on the movement of terrorist funds through world banks, security officials told The Associated Press. As terrorist cells become more self-reliant, they are calling into question the notion they need an international financial support network to stage attacks, according to the independent commission that investigated al-Qaida's deadliest assault yet on Sept. 11, 2001. U.S. Treasury officials, who have driven the global campaign...