CRIMINAL USES OF IP
“ TRAFFICKING IN PREPAID MOBILE PHONES GENERATES HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN ILLICIT REVENUE USED TO FUND ORGANISED CRIME AT BEST, AND TERRORISM AT WORST.”
The IP connection
Te terms and conditions restricting and limiting the use and sale of prepaid mobile phones printed on the packaging, inserts and websites constitute a binding and legal contract. Traffickers who flash, tamper with, export or engage in illegal activities (or assist others who do so), or who obscure, cover or remove brand owners’ trademarks engage in: trademark infringement; unfair competition; copyright infringement; circumvention of copyrighted soſtware protection systems and trafficking in circumvented technology in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act; breach of contract; tortuous interference with business relationships and prospective advantages; tortuous interference with contract; common law unfair competition; dilution; civil conspiracy; conspiracy to induce breach of contract; and unjust enrichment. Such claims have resulted in dozens of injunctions and judgments against traffickers.
How traffickers are caught
To combat trafficking in prepaid cell phones, a major manufacturer has collaborated with Te Treadstone Group, Inc. for several years. Its in-house fraud department and Treadstone generate leads through tips from retailers and manufacturers’ reps, or through online postings offering to buy or sell prepaid phones in bulk.
When known or suspected runners are identified, Treadstone conducts moving surveillance, starting when the suspect enters the store—runners are oſten waiting in line at
kiosks on the day and at the time that shipments are scheduled to arrive—and following them throughout their day, until they deliver the purchases to the trafficker.
When traffickers operate online by posting ads ‘willing to buy’ prepaid mobile phones in bulk, Treadstone poses as a runner and ships dozens of phones to the traffickers, enabling us to identify and then target the trafficker at his place of operation. Once the traffickers are identified, the investigation shiſts from surveillance to an undercover sting operation. When traffickers post online ads ‘willing to sell’ in bulk, Treadstone purchases a small ‘test’ quantity of 25 to 100 phones to establish trust and verify the trafficker’s ability to supply phones in volume.
Once the trafficker is identified, our investigators attempt to prove that a suspect is buying in bulk and, particularly, exporting phones, by meeting personally with the suspect or corresponding via email, and negotiating bulk purchases. When possible, Treadstone negotiates flashing of phones prior to export, or attempts to identify and negotiate directly with those who flash the phones in-country.
Signs of trafficking include:
• An unusually high number of young men (runners are typically unemployed teens or young adults) arriving and entering a suspect location, particularly late in the aſternoon, carrying bags from stores known to sell prepaid mobile phones, but leaving without the bags and without having made a purchase from the suspect location
• Empty and discarded packaging, user manuals and chargers in rubbish bins
40 World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2010
• A disproportionate number of outbound shipments in large, generic boxes via UPS, FedEx or other carriers. (A retailer should receive more packages than it ships.)
Ross Bulla is president of Te Treadstone Group, Inc. He can be contacted at:
bulla@treadstonegroup.com
Ross Bulla is president of Te Treadstone Group, Inc., which investigates and anonymously acquires trademarks and domain names on behalf of many of the world’s largest brand owners and law firms. Bulla has managed complex international investigations in more than 42 countries, including the Middle East, and has negotiated the acquisition of thousands of trademarks, domain names and patents. Actively involved in many professional organisations and committees, Bulla is at the forefront of establishing industry best practices. He is an active member of INTA, for which he serves on the INTA Internet Committee and Internet Governance and Contractual Relationships Subcommittee.
www.worldipreview.com
©
iStockphoto.com / Creasence
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112