The legislation (HR 4930) aims at strengthening US Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) ability to share information with stakeholders during enforcement of American intellectual property (IP) rights at the border.
The American Apparel & Footwear Association has urged the US House of Representatives to pass a key anti-counterfeiting measure that is scheduled to be considered this week.
The legislation (HR 4930) aims at strengthening US Customs and Border Protection’s ability to share information with stakeholders during enforcement of American intellectual property rights at the border.
When enacted, this provision will enable brands to help CBP curb counterfeits before they enter American homes, according to a release from AAFA.
HR 4930 clarifies CBP’s ability to share information with brands, not only from products and packaging, but also from packing materials connected to suspected counterfeit shipments.
It also expands the definition of who qualifies as a ‘person’ eligible to receive information from CBP, allowing the agency to address longstanding challenges to the enforcement of IP rights by strengthening information shared with stakeholders in IP enforcement.
By widening both the scope of information and the pool of partners, the legislation aims at breaking down information silos, improve enforcement efficiency and better support efforts to identify and block counterfeit items, AAFA said.
“Stopping these unsafe counterfeits at the border, preventing them from polluting third party marketplaces, and, ultimately, keeping them out of American homes should be a bipartisan, bicameral priority. We hope the Senate will take up this measure if it passes the House so it can quickly be presented to the President for his signature,” remarked Stephen Lamar, AAFA’s president and chief executive officer.
In recognition of World IP Day on April 26, AAFA led a letter with almost two dozen consumer, retail and manufacturing groups to US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and United States Patent and Trademark Office director John A Squires to tout the economic importance of protecting IP, encourage the continuance of leading multilateral discussions on intellectual property and grow stakeholder capacity-building opportunities.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
