Labels and Tags Rank Ninth on List of Counterfeit Seizures

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently released their Intellectual Property Rights Seizure Statistics report for fiscal year 2014, which revealed more than 23,000 seizures worth approximately $1.2 billion.

Labels/tags finished ninth on the list—just below computers/accessories. According to the report, the agencies seized 540 shipments of labels/tags (2 percent of all seizures). The good news? This number is down from 788 seizures in fiscal year 2013 (3 percent of all seizures). Wearing apparel/accessories topped the list with 7,922 seizures, accounting for 28 percent of all seizures.

"To be clear, intellectual property theft is not a victimless crime," Sarah Saldaña, director of ICE, said in a release. "The victims are American businesses and the employees whose jobs are dependent on IP-intensive industries. Counterfeiting is a crime of global proportions, and when property rights are violated, American jobs are lost, business profits are stolen and, ultimately, consumers are cheated."

Other counterfeit commodities that were seized included consumer electronics, pharmaceuticals/personal care, handbags/wallets, footwear, watches/jewelry, optical media and toys.

View the full report here.