ICE
to think ‘where is the choke point that will have some earlier impact on the sale of counterfeit goods?’,” he says. As a result, officials have altered their tactics and are trying to block counterfeit sales by strangling their sources: Internet websites. Tis approach is embodied by Operation In Our Sites, perhaps the most controversial initiative associated with the IPR Center.
Set up in June 2010, the operation targets websites that distribute counterfeit goods or facilitate online piracy. ICE has so far seized 748 domains— one of which includes O’Dwyer’s TvShack—and typically swoops every few months to surprise website owners. It is perhaps best known for targeting websites on ‘cyber Monday’: the Monday following the US Tanksgiving public holiday, believed to be the biggest US retail shopping day of the year. “For any criminal enterprise, when you take away one of their best business days, you are disrupting their ability to earn a criminal profit,” Barnett says.
But this approach has attracted opposition. Critics argue that sometimes the only link between a US government agency and the
“WEBSITE TAKEDOWNS ACT AS A STRONG DETERRENT TO WOULD-BE CRIMINALS. OF THE FIRST NINE WEBSITES SEIZED IN 2010, ONE OF WHICH HAD THREE MILLION VISITORS PER MONTH, ONLY TWO CAME BACK ONLINE.”
websites (which may be operated from abroad) is that they are registered to Verisign, the US company managing .com and .net domain names. Barnett disputes this claim, explaining that agents thoroughly assess each case before investigating it.
“Is there a US rights holder that is impacted by that counterfeit good or pirated material?” “Is the website owner clearly targeting a US-based audience for the sale or distribution of these goods?” Tese are a couple of the questions officials ask. “When we seize counterfeit hard goods sites which are advertising in US dollars, that to us is a clue,” he adds.
He admits this approach will continue to generate opposition, especially when ICE arrests website owners from countries as far away as China. But he emphasises that officials must always adhere to rigorous standards, which are laid down in US legislation. “I think one thing that has been overlooked is that Homeland Security Investigations and the IPR Center are not unilaterally seizing domain names,” says Barnett. In fact, he says, officers must record
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World Intellectual Property Review May/June 2012
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