Lafayette Hill man charged for smuggling goods into U.S., pirating movies, TV shows
A Lafayette Hill man has been charged by indictment for smuggling goods into the United States, trafficking in counterfeit labels and criminal copyright infringement, according to a press release from the United States Department of Justice. United States Attorney Zane David Memeger announced May 19 that Brian Bethman was charged on May 15. Between April 2010 and April 2011, Bethman smuggled in more than 6,000 audiovisual copies of movies and television shows that were protected by copyright, according to the indictment. The press release says the television shows included, but were not limited to: “House,” “Criminal Minds,” “NCIS,” “Weeds,” “The Office” and “Royal Pains”; the movies included, but were not limited to: “Justfied,” “The Pacific,” “Dead Like Me” and “Bambi.”
http://www.montgomerynews.com/articles/2014/05/19/colonial_news/news/doc537a801608249078737064.txt
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Smuggling in the UAE: Counterfeit goods seeping into ports daily
A flurry of fake football shirts smuggled into Dubai ahead of the Fifa World Cup next month is the latest face of the booming counterfeit market. The shirts are just a fraction of a varied flow of goods seeping into UAE ports on a daily basis. Luxury handbags, watches, car parts, beauty products, electronics and clothing are among the most frequently smuggled fake items. Their prevalence has grown as the overall tide of goods into the country – and Dubai in particular – swells. Dubai Customs last month said it made 65 seizures of fake goods in the first quarter of the year, up from 59 seizures in the same period of last year. The value of the items seized rose from Dh2.4 million to Dh6.7m. Part of the rise in seizures can be attributed to the improving systems officials are deploying to detect smuggling.
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Spain Hits Back At Britain Over Border Smuggling
The Spanish Government has accused Britain of failing to tackle a sharp rise in tobacco smuggling at the border. In a statement marking the six-month deadline set by the European Commission following its visit last year, Spain also said that cooperation with law enforcement agencies in Gibraltar had deteriorated. The statement by the Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs came a day after UK Europe Minister David Lidington denounced continued delays at the border and urged Spain to act on the EC recommendations. “Spain has established, over the past few months, that the United Kingdom has to adopt the necessary measures to tackle smuggling,” the Spanish statement said.
“Cooperation with local Gibraltarian authorities, far from improving, unfortunately appears to be worsening.” The Spanish ministry cited a recent incident in which a Guardia Civil officer was injured at sea while intercepting cigarette smugglers in British waters.
Drive against fake products intensified in Sharjah
The drive will continue throughout the year to control the market, rein in frauds and the sale of counterfeit, restoring consumers’ confidence in the emirate’s market. An intensified campaign launched by the Sharjah Economic Development Department to crack down on counterfeit products in the local markets has resulted in the seizure of a large quantity of fake goods and their subsequent destruction by the department. The haul included car spare parts and personal care items like perfumes and skin and hair creams. A senior officer at the department, who declined to be named, said the drive will continue throughout the year to control the market, rein in frauds and the sale of counterfeit, restoring consumers’ confidence in the emirate’s market. Besides inspection of markets and shopping centres to ensure they are not selling fake products, the department is also seeking to raise public awareness of duplicate products and the harms they can cause.
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Dodgers Give Hard Time to Commercial Taxmen
KOCHI: The city is the commercial hub of the state, but it is also causing huge losses to the government exchequer in the form of commercial tax evasion. Officials with the Commercial Taxes Department said that around 60 percentage of such cases reported in the state are from Kochi. “For the last several years, around 60 percentage of commercial tax evasion cases were reported from Kochi. This is because, business activities are high in Kochi and it is also located at the central part of the State. The tax rate is around 14 percentage and by evading it, the small scale businessmen can gain good profit,” said K Sundar, Deputy Commissioner, Commercial Taxes Department. The tax-evaded goods first reach Kochi and from here it is supplied to other parts of the state.
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Fighting fakes: Ahead of US IPO, Alibaba takes a tougher line
BEIJING/SAN FRANCISCO: Alibaba is taking a tougher line against counterfeit items sold on its online marketplaces as the Chinese e-commerce giant heads towards a US stock listing that could be the world’s biggest technology company IPO. Some security experts say the Chinese group’s stricter standards on piracy and fake goods may even surpass those of Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc. In its IPO filing last week, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said the perception that its sites are cluttered with counterfeit items could hurt its ability to win over customers, investors and US retail partners. The group, founded by entrepreneur Jack Ma 15 years ago, has stepped up efforts to clean house over recent years.
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39% rise in contraband seizures at Dubai airport
A senior official on Monday said Dubai Customs (DC) foiled 541 attempts to bring prohibited items into the country from January 1 to March 31 this year. The emirate has seen 39 per cent spike in the number of contraband seizures made at Dubai International Airport in the first quarter of this year as compared to the corresponding period last year. A senior official on Monday said Dubai Customs (DC) foiled 541 attempts to bring prohibited items into the country from January 1 to March 31 this year, as compared to 389 interceptions over the same period in 2013.
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Alibaba takes tougher stance against online sale of counterfeit goods
Chinese online retail group’s stricter standards on piracy and fake goods may even surpass those of Amazon and eBay
Alibaba is taking a tougher line against counterfeit items sold on its online marketplaces as the Chinese e-commerce group heads towards a US stockmarket listing that could be the world’s biggest technology flotation.
Some security experts say the Chinese group’s stricter standards onpiracy and fake goods may even surpass those of Amazon and eBay. In its filing for an initial public offering last week, Alibaba said the perception that its sites are cluttered with counterfeit items could hurt its ability to win over customers, investors and US retail partners. The group, founded by entrepreneur Jack Ma 15 years ago, has stepped up efforts to tackle the counterfeit problem in recent years.
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Hotlines set up to check for counterfeit medicines in India, Nigeria
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Social enterprises in India and Nigeria have come up with text messaging services to help patients check that their medicines are safe and are not products of the counterfeit drugs industry which kills many thousands of people annually. From expensive pills used to treat life-threatening conditions like cancer to cheap painkillers, fake and poor quality drugs are entering the supply chain where unsuspecting customers risk their lives buying them over the counter or the Internet.
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Assam sees rise in economic offences
GUWAHATI: White collar crimes and economic offences are on the rise in the state. In 2013, the number of cases related to cheating and economic offences was more than 3,500.
These offences were mostly fraud cases by dubious non-banking financial companies, fake recruitment agencies and real estate dealers, forging of signature, certificates and stamp papers. The state police and other government agencies seem to have completely failed to control the menace that has led to unchecked flow of fake currencies in the state. According to police records, at least 2,321 cases of cheating, 1,432 criminal breach of trust (CBT) and 85 counterfeiting cases were registered last year.
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