ICE
their every move, oſten writing 20 or 30-page long reports before obtaining a court order from a magistrate judge.
Te government must prove that a website was engaged in criminal activity, or benefiting from its proceeds, and “that burden never shiſts to the website operator”. “I understand it when people want to be critical—but that doesn’t always recognise the way that we have chosen to undertake these operations with significant due process,” he adds. “I would welcome anyone who has a better solution for a US law enforcement agency dealing with criminal enterprises organised in China.”
For brand owners, one crucial question is: do ICE’s takedowns offer a permanent cure to the counterfeiting and piracy disease? Te answer is, probably, no. But, according to Barnett, 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. Even aſter reappearing, the sites’ traffic levels dropped by 99 percent, cutting 99 percent of the advertising revenue too.
Perhaps most interesting is the wider deterrent effect that ICE’s work has had: aſter officers seized the first nine websites, 81 other domains, considered to be heavily engaged in piracy, voluntarily shut down. “Twelve of those sites— and this is a statistic I find fascinating—started to link to legitimate vehicles offering online content,” Barnett notes. For a man who says he has never seen such a knock-on effect in 17 years working as a law enforcement officer, this is an interesting trend. “Usually, if you arrest a drug dealer in a neighbourhood, the other drug dealers don’t stop selling—actually, business tends to get better. Tat’s something that I think is a reflection of these domain name seizures,” he adds.
What’s more, brand owners can liaise with the IPR Center if they become aware of websites or markets selling counterfeit goods. Barnett welcomes this ‘public-private’ partnership, but he warns that referring evidence to the centre does not guarantee that it will investigate. He says that officers will take action only when there is sufficient evidence that meets a certain threshold.
“While I think brand owners should work with law enforcement, and I do believe most of them understand this, I think there has to be a recognition that it is not definitely an opportunity to have enforcement just because you have a referral.” Owing to the nature of sophisticated criminals, investigations can be complex, oſten requiring undercover operations. “Tat takes time and I think rights holders have to understand that there isn’t going to be a 30-day turnaround,” he says.
A tipping point
Another big question for brand owners is: can the IPR Center and its partners actually stop consumers buying counterfeit goods and using pirated material? Three years ago, law enforcement’s ability to deter such activity would have been minimal, Barnett says. But things are changing. After placing seizure notices on each of the 748 websites, he says that these warnings have been viewed more than 90 million times: a sign that a tipping point has been reached.
34 World Intellectual Property Review May/June 2012
www.worldipreview.com
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