Nov 30, 2011

Black Friday to Counterfeit Monday

Wednesday, November 30, 2011
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Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, when Americans hit the streets, stores and shopping malls in a materialistic frenzy. A more recent term, Cyber Monday, has also been coined by online marketers for the Monday following Black Friday to encourage people to buy even more online. After reading a news article entitled 150 Counterfeit Websites Shut Down by Feds, I wonder if Cyber Monday might also be referred to as Counterfeit Monday - the day greatest number of fake goods are purchased online.

According to the article, the Feds used Cyber Monday to announce that they've shut down 150 websites selling knock-off or pirated merchandise to bargain-seeking e-shoppers. The sites sold a wide variety of merchandise including movie DVDs, NBA jerseys and Louis Vuitton handbags, two of the most popular pirated brand items worldwide. From the list of domain names seized in this investigation, it seems that any domain name with the word jersey in it is likely to be selling counterfeit NBA and other sports league jerseys.

Fake v. Authentic Louis Vuitton bags: Can you tell the difference? This website tells you how.
Interestingly, while the domain names of the websites were registered in the United States, most were operated abroad and mostly from here in China. No individuals have been charged so far, but law enforcement authorities are still investigating and may bring charges if they can identify and obtain personal jurisdiction over people running the websites selling the counterfeit goods. Being that most of the people involved in running the websites are located in countries outside the United States, this will be a long and complicated procedure and relatively few are likely to be ultimately convicted of any crimes (unless they're also prosecuted in their countries of residence).

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