u.s. pursues new enforcement efforts in light of increased ipr seizures

the u.s. recently informed the wto council for trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights that u.s. customs and border protection is pursuing additional ipr enforcement efforts in light of the 83 percent jump in seizures of counterfeit goods in the u.s. in fiscal year 2006. cbp plans to launch a new risk modeling program in the next few months and is continuing to conduct post-entry audits of high-risk shipments.

cbp and u.s. immigration and customs enforcement made 14,675 ipr-related seizures worth $155.4 million in fy 2006, both all-time highs, and related ice investigations resulted in 219 arrests, 134 indictments and 170 convictions. products from china accounted for 81 percent of the value of the fy 2006 seizures, up from 69 percent a year before. seizures from hong kong and taiwan remained steady at six percent and one percent, respectively, while the individual shares dropped for india, pakistan, korea, russia, vietnam and others. ..........

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