U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers intercepted a shipment of counterfeit goods knocking off top-name luxury brands.
On Feb. 14, officers detained a shipment of items impersonating designer brands such as Burberry, Chanel, Gucci, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Moschino and Versace while inspecting inbound express delivery parcels near Philadelphia International Airport.
CBP officers initially examined the shipment, which if authentic would have commanded a manufacturer suggested retail price of $317,080, the agency said Friday. The shipment, which arrived from Turkey and was destined to an address in Pennsylvania’s Delaware County, contained handbags, wallets, sneakers, shoes, sweatshirts, hats and belts masquerading as the top-flight labels. Officers detained the shipment when they spotted the poor quality and shoddy merchandise packaging.
CBP officers worked with the agency’s Consumer Products and Mass Merchandising Centers for Excellence and Expertise, its trade experts, and verified through the trademark holder that the products were counterfeit. Officers seized the shipment Feb. 24.
“Customs and Border Protection officers encounter a wide variety of counterfeit consumer goods, like these trademark-infringing products, and we continue to work with our trade and consumer safety partners to identify and seize counterfeit products,” Anne Maricich, CBP’s acting director of field operations at the Baltimore Field Office, said. “CBP urges consumers to protect their families and their wallets by purchasing authentic goods from reputable vendors.”
CBP protects businesses and consumers through an aggressive Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforcement program. Importation of counterfeit merchandise can cause significant revenue loss, damage the U.S. economy, and threaten the health and safety of the American people. On a typical day in 2019, CBP officers seized $4.3 million worth of products with IPR violations.
The People’s Republic of China remained the primary source economy for seized counterfeit and pirated goods, accounting for a total estimated MSRP value of more than $1 billion, or 66 percent of the estimated MSRP value of all IPR seizures.