In global op, feds help seize websites selling fake goods

In an operation involving 10 foreign law enforcement agencies, the Department of Homeland Security helped seize more than 700 websites selling counterfeit goods on Cyber Monday, the busiest online shopping day of the year. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is part of Homeland Security, said its agents worked with Europol, the European Union’s police coordinating body, and the customs agency of Hong Kong.“It was good old-fashioned police work,” said Justin Cole, a spokesman for the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, a multi-agency task force in Washington.The center’s Project Cyber Monday IV obtained court orders against 297 U.S.-based Web domains that had sold counterfeit goods to undercover Homeland Security agents. The goods ranged from electronics to sportswear to jewelry. “Once we have evidence from the copyright holder that the goods are fraudulent, we can go and get a seizure warrant signed by a federal magistrate,” Mr. Cole said.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/2/global-op-feds-help-seize-counterfeit-goods/#ixzz2n9lD60xB