In this roundtable, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) obtained insights from businesses, intellectual property (IP) rights holders, and other stakeholders regarding anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy trends and strategies.
Counterfeit and pirated products are readily available to U.S. consumers through all forms of commerce, including physical markets, ecommerce, and social media sites. Many of these products endanger public health and safety as well as national security, and their presence is growing: in fiscal year 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection made over 27,000 seizures. The estimated retail value of these seized products added up to more than $3.3. billion, an increase of 152% over the previous year.
The trade in counterfeit and pirated products negatively impacts American innovation and erodes the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers and workers. For example, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, digital video piracy conservatively causes lost domestic revenues of at least $29.2 billion, and as much as $71.0 billion, annually.
This roundtable provided a forum for consumers, IP rights holders, representatives of online and physical marketplaces and platforms, and other private sector stakeholders to discuss:
- The recent evolution and growth in counterfeiting and piracy
- The types of harms that have been observed from the sale of counterfeit and pirated products
- Successful anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy strategies
- Successful collaborative efforts between public and private partnerships to combat the sale of counterfeit and pirated products
- Effective technological solutions that are being used to stem the flow of counterfeit and pirated products entering into the marketplace
The roundtable was open to the public, and there was no charge to attend. Advanced registration, however, was required for both in-person and virtual attendance.
In addition to this roundtable, the USPTO published a Federal Register Notice soliciting written comments from the public regarding effective anticounterfeiting and antipiracy strategies. For more information, see the Federal Register Notice published on May 25, 2023. The comment period closed on August 23, 2023.
Agenda
Agenda subject to change
10:00–10:10 a.m. Opening remarks
- Derrick Brent, Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO
10:10–10:50 a.m. Panel 1: Scope of the counterfeiting issue
Moderator:
- Caridad Berdut, Senior Counsel, Office of Policy and International Affairs, USPTO
Panelists:
- Michael Benarde, NightCap
- Teena Bohi, Automotive Anti-Counterfeiting Council (A2C2)
- Riccardo Castiglioni, CBMLD Law Firm
- Patrick Kilbride, Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Donna Policz, Authentic Vision
10:50–11:30 a.m. Panel 2: Challenges in supply chain security
Moderator:
- Vu Nguyen, Attorney Advisor, Office of Policy and International Affairs, USPTO
Panelists:
- Sean McLaughlin, Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA)
- John Pickel, National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC)
- Alaina van Horn, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
- Li Zhu, Quarles & Brady LLP
11:30–11:40 a.m. Break
11:40 a.m.–12:20 p.m. Panel 3: Protecting our infrastructure against counterfeits
Moderator:
- Holly Lance, Attorney Advisor, Office of Policy and International Affairs, USPTO
Speakers:
- Gabrielle Holcomb, U.S. Department of Energy
- David Norman, Crane Authentication
- Sean O'Hearen, 1stLine Partners
- Michael Patrick, Greenspoon Marder LLP
- Matthew Wayland, Semiconductor Industry Association
12:20–1:00 p.m. Panel 4: Experiences in international markets
Moderator:
- Todd Reves, Director, Building Respect for IP Division, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Panelists:
- Roberto Arochi, Arochi & Linder
- Laure Chemla, Wella Company
- Anna Dalla Val, Amazon
- William Mansfield, ABRO Industries, Inc.
- Gary Nelson, U-NICA
1:00–2:00 p.m. Break
2:00–2:40 p.m. Panel 5: Enforcement in the e-commerce universe
Moderator:
- Jennifer Blank, Attorney Advisor, Office of Policy and International Affairs, USPTO
Panelists:
- James Ashe, OpSec Security
- Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University School of Law
- Anthony Rufo, eBay
- Ashly Sands, Epstein Drangel LLP
- Ali Sternburg, Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA)
2:40–3:20 p.m. Panel 6: Deterring Bad Actors
Moderator:
- Ameen Imam, Attorney Advisor, Office of Policy and International Affairs, USPTO
Panelists:
- Tomasz R. Barczyk, Tailored IP Solutions
- Shabbir Imber Safdar, Partnership for Safe Medicines
- Travis Johnson, International AntiCounterfeiting Association (IACC)
- Tim Copp, Communications Cable & Connectivity Association (CCCA)
- Mark Manning, iTrace Technologies
3:20–3:30 p.m. Break
3:30–4:10 p.m. Panel 7: Scope of the Piracy Issue
Moderator:
- Peter Fowler, Senior Counsel, Office of Policy and International Affairs, USPTO
Panelists:
- Jordan Bromley, Music Artists’ Coalition
- Tom Colyer, MUSO London
- Steven C. Hawley, Piracy Monitor
- Kevin R. Madigan, Copyright Alliance
- Morgan Reed, ACT—The App Association
- M. Luisa Simpson, Association of American Publishers (AAP)
4:10–4:50 p.m. Panel 8: Countering Illicit Streaming
Moderator:
- Mark Abumeri, Attorney Advisor, Office of Policy and International Affairs, USPTO
Panelists:
- Catherine R. Gellis, CG Counsel
- Jonathan Seiden, Endeavor
- Scott Johnston, Chainanalysis
- Michael Lewis, Entertainment Software Association (ESA)
- Stefan Sergot, Premier League
- Ben Sheffner, Motion Picture Association (MPA)
4:50–5:00 p.m. Closing remarks
Additional information
For more information, visit the registration page or contact Ameen.Imam@uspto.gov in the USPTO’s Office of Policy and International Affairs.
This virtual program is hosted by the USPTO’s Global Intellectual Property Academy, a unit of the USPTO’s Office of Policy and International Affairs (OPIA). The office advises the administration and other federal government departments and agencies on domestic and international IP legal and policy issues. It also provides technical assistance and training on IP-related matters to U.S. stakeholders and both U.S. and foreign government officials.
Accessibility accommodation
If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request a reasonable accommodation, please submit your request to the contact information listed above.