Monthly Archives: February 2019

McDONALD’S LOSES ‘BIG MAC’ TRADEMARK IN THE EU

In a European union case ruling, McDonald’s Corp has lost its rights to the trademark “Big Mac” in favor of the Ireland-based fast-food chain Supermac’s.

Supermac said it had never had a product called “Big Mac,” suggesting McDonald’s had used the similarity of the two names to block the Irish chain’s expansion.

Supermac’s, revoked McDonald’s registration of the trademark, saying that the world’s largest fast-food chain had not proven genuine use of it over the five years prior to the case being lodged in 2017. The ruling allows other companies as well as McDonald’s to use the “Big Mac” name in the EU.

Supermac was founded by Pat McDonagh who earned the nickname Supermac as an Irish teenager in the late 1960s when he guided his school to a football victory over St. Gerald’s, a more fancied team. He opened the first Supermac in Ballinasloe, a town in county Galway, in 1978. The company now has 106 outlets across Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Operation Pangea XI Targets Online Rogue Pharmacies

Operation Pangea is a yearly operation involving many countries and law enforcement agencies which cooperate in a one week operation targeting online rogue pharmacies.

From October 9-16, 116 countries combined forces to combat the problem of online rogue pharmacies in Operation Pangea XI. The results were staggering and include: 859 arrests and the seizure of 500 tons of illicit pharmaceuticals worth an estimated $14 million. The pharmaceuticals included: anti-inflammatory medication, painkillers, slimming pills and medicines for HIV, Parkinson’s, erectile dysfunction, anabolic steroids and diabetes.

More than 110,000 medical devices including syringes, contact lenses, hearing aids and surgical instruments were seized. Also seized were counterfeit medical devices included 737 expired cardiac surgery instruments smuggled into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) special agents initiated several criminal investigations and took down more than 450 domain names including http://www.nextdaypills.com, http:www.top-meds-discounts.com and http://www.bestgenericstores.com. In all, 3,671 web links were closed down including websites, social media pages and online marketplaces.

Victims of Fake Medicines Tell Their Stories

On January 31, Twenty-one members of the trade group, the Partnership for Safe Medicines, based in San Francisco, hosted congressional briefings to allow victims of fake medicines and their families to tell their stories in Washington.

Also speaking were retired law enforcement officers representing the DEA and the National Sheriffs’ Association who spoke of the dangers from counterfeit drugs in their jurisdictions and efforts to combat them. Javier Peña and Steve Murphy, retired DEA agents portrayed in the Netflix series NARCOS, spoke about their experiences with drug cartels, counterfeits and opioids on a panel with former Assistant United States Attorney Samuel J. Louis and former Canadian Border Patrol agent Don Bell.

Please visit the organization’s website: https://www.safemedicines.org/about-us/members for more information.

FAKE CONDUMS ON THE RISE IN CHINA

In November, 2018 Chinese police seized more than a half million boxes of fake condums worth $7 million. The fakes were sold to hotels, supermarkets and vending machines and were sold in Henan and Hubei provinces. Packaged as Durex and Okamoto (a Japanese condom manufacturer), as well as Chinese brands Jissbon and SixSex, unsuspecting purchasers would have been easily duped by the fake branding

Condums are one of the most widely counterfeited products in China along with various fashion products and have become a nationwide black market.

To make counterfeit condums all that is required is unprocessed condoms, silicone oil and packaging. All three can be easily acquired. the production of condoms requires strict registration and production qualifications—but much depends on provincial food and drug administrations to authorize licenses.

Statistics from the National Health and Family Planning Commission show that tens of millions of counterfeit condoms go into the market via different channels.