Category Archives: Blogs

In a stunning development Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, canceled his appearance at today’s IACC conference. What the aftermath of this remains to be seen. However, it’s an embarrassment for the trade group which lost its keynote speaker and a setback in its working with Alibaba to implement a more comprehensive counterfeiting agenda. According to the IACC website, Michael Evans, President of Alibaba, will be the keynote speaker.

Alibaba has been mentioned many times by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in its annual Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets. See Page 7 of the USTR’s “2015 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets,” which provides a good history of Alibaba’s piracy and also it’s efforts to remedy the problem.

Available at: https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/USTR-2015-Out-of-Cycle-Review-Notorious-Markets-Final.pdf]

Gucci America, Michael Kors and Tiffany have recently cancelled their membership with the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC). According to a news report by ABC News, IACC members were furious that the Chinese auction site Alibaba, which has a reputation as a major source for counterfeit products, was allowed to become an IACC member. Alibaba Group’s membership was suspended, amidst concern over current president Robert Barchiesi, who may have a conflict of interest with Alibaba Group.

The revoking of Alibaba Group’s membership comes just days before the IACC’s Spring Conference, scheduled for May 19th in Orlando, Florida. Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of the Alibaba Group and the Honorable Max Baucus, U.S. Ambassador to China, were the keynote speakers. The IACC was formed in 1979 to combat the growing counterfeiting threat.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/head-anti-fakes-group-closely-tied-alibaba-owns-39084420

I have been invited to participate as a guest panelist in the Global Brand Protection Innovation Programme (GBPIP) that will be held in London on May 26th and 27th. London here I come!

PaulRParadise-PressRelease-GBPIP-Final

A picture of me with a friend at the Word Bookstore book signing. I also read a chapter from my novel, The Counterfeit Detective, and gave a powerpoint presentation entitled: “Trademark Counterfeiting as a ‘Victimless’ crime.” I was very happy to come to this beautiful bookstore, located at 123 Newark Avenue in Jersey City. Stephen King will be coming to this bookstore in June.

I’ll be giving a presentation and doing a book signing at the Word Bookstore, located at 123 Newark Street in Jersey City, New Jersey on Wednesday, March 23rd, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

WordBookstore

As a follow-up to my last blog on counterfeit pesticides, I suspect that counterfeits contain insecticides that have been banned, like DDT which is non-biodegradable and can wind up in the drinking water, endanger wildlife, and other serious threats. DDT was once touted as a miracle insecticide that was good for farms and the general population. Spraying was widespread, until the book Silent Spring, written by Rachel Carson in 1962, exposed the dangers of DDT. Check out the Youtube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipbc-6IvMQI

Europol, the European Union’s police office, executed a large seizure of counterfeit pesticides in December, 2015. The operation was code named Operation Silver Axe and led to the seizure of 190 tons of illegal and counterfeit pesticides. Most of the counterfeit pesticides in the European Union are imported and account for a problem that is believed to be as high as 10% of the pesticides used in the EU.

The following link to the European Crop Protection Association(ECPA) is informative and has two videos of interest.

http://www.ecpa.eu/page/counterfeit-pesticides

“Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition.”

The above is included in the ‘fine print’ in the Samsung Internet SmartTV’s privacy policy. The SmartTV uses voice recognition to change channels, turn up the volume, and other cool stuff. However, users have expressed a concern about an invasion of privacy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHGOEkAJsKM

But, truthfully, what sort of content is being picked up by Samsung? “Time to take out the garbage” . . . . “What’s for dinner?”  That’s probably one reason why the concern over privacy has not snowballed into a legal attack. Also, most people don’t read the privacy policy statement. However, stay tuned to see what the future brings . . .

Guiyu, with a population of about 150,000, is located in Guang Dong Province, China and is the world capital of e-waste, much of which is repackaged and sold as new. Guiyu benefits from its location in Guang Dong province which is the heart of China’s export market to the West. Guiyu has an estimated 300 companies and 3,000 individual workshops engaged in e-waste recycling. Laborers sometimes sit on the pavement in front of the workshops and use hammers and drills to open up the electronic device. The outer metal or plastic casing is removed and then the circuit board itself is removed and cooked to melt the solder so that the chips can be removed with minimal chip damage. This cooking operation releases toxic lead, cadmium and beryllium fumes. To add to the danger, recycling is messy, so the components are washed in a river or left outside in the rain. One of the largest sources of e-waste are cellphones and smartphones. Consumers keep a cellphone an average of about two years. Americans disposed of an estimated 135 million mobile devices in 2010, including pagers and personal digital assistants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVOf2hsWQNc

Counterfeit-Electronic-Parts

“We do not want a $12 million missile defensive interceptor’s reliability compromised by a $2 counterfeit part.”

            General Patrick O’Reilly, Director, Missile Defense Agency, November 8, 2011.

Counterfeit electronic parts in the military is a huge problem. For example, in Sept. 2010 the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) learned that mission computers for THAAD missiles contained suspect counterfeit memory devices. If the devices had failed, the THAAD missile itself would have failed.

The enclosed 100+ page report compiled by the Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate, in May, 2012 is the most comprehensive report to date on the problem. The overwhelming majority of the counterfeits were manufactured outside of the United States. Senator John McCain, former POW, and Senator Carl Levin testified about the problem of counterfeit parts, most of which come from China. The parts are often from what’s known as electronic waste or e-waste, refurbished parts from laptops, smartphones, and other communication devices. The parts are sold to suppliers doing business with the government through the Internet.