ENFORCEMENT
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Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement<br />
Accountability Office found that 526 reports of<br />
suspected counterfeit parts were entered for fiscal years<br />
2011 through 2015. 130<br />
Similarly, private supply chains are being infiltrated,<br />
resulting in counterfeit products unknowingly being<br />
passed along and sold directly to industries and<br />
consumers alike. With respect to industrial supply<br />
chains, the U.S. has identified sixteen (16) critical<br />
infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and<br />
networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered<br />
so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or<br />
destruction would have a debilitating effect on security,<br />
National economic security, National public health or<br />
safety, or any combination thereof. 131 These critical<br />
infrastructure sectors span across various industries,<br />
including for example, information technology; critical<br />
manufacturing (e.g., electrical equipment, transportation<br />
equipment, etc.); food and agriculture; healthcare and<br />
public health; and energy.<br />
The diversity of counterfeit and faulty goods not<br />
only creates extra costs for businesses and consumers,<br />
but can also corrupt critical infrastructure sectors and<br />
jeopardize public safety. From counterfeit electronic<br />
components used in information technology systems<br />
to counterfeit automotive parts; from counterfeit<br />
pharmaceuticals to counterfeit fertilizers and pesticides<br />
that contaminate food supplies, these and other<br />
products and components introduce potential problems<br />
along the supply spectrum, posing a growing threat to<br />
governments, industry and consumers.<br />
“The link between organized crime groups<br />
and counterfeit goods is well established. But<br />
INTERPOL is sounding the alarm that Intellectual<br />
Property Crime is becoming the preferred method<br />
of funding for a number of terrorist groups.<br />
There are enough examples now of the funding<br />
of terrorist groups in this way for us to worry<br />
about the threat to public safety. We must take<br />
preventative measures now.”<br />
There are a number of publicly available examples—<br />
stemming from U.S. prosecutions and reports;<br />
international organizations and law enforcement<br />
bodies; and the news media—that illustrate the growing<br />
convergence between IP-based crimes, TOC, and<br />
terrorism. With respect to the latter, there is evidence<br />
supporting links between intellectual property crime<br />
(IPC) and various terror groups, but as succinctly<br />
noted by INTERPOL, “most terrorist groups do not<br />
take responsibility for the development and control<br />
of counterfeit production and distribution; rather they<br />
FIG. 32<br />
Former Secretary General, INTERPOL, Hon. Ronald K. Noble<br />
SECTION 1<br />
b. The Convergence between Intellectual Property-Based<br />
Crime and the Financing of Criminal and Terror Networks.<br />
The growth in illicit trade is being fueled by smart<br />
and sophisticated organized criminal networks that<br />
understand how to exploit new technology, and use<br />
the differences among national regulatory regimes<br />
and links between the global economic, financial,<br />
and transportation systems for their own gain. There<br />
is no single structure under which transnational<br />
organized criminals operate; they vary from hierarchies<br />
to clans, networks, and cells, and may evolve to<br />
other structures and the crimes they commit also<br />
vary. 132 These networks generate illicit profits that<br />
may be used for other criminal activities, such as<br />
drug trafficking, people smuggling, bribery, money<br />
laundering and terrorism. 133<br />
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