The United States and China have joined forces in a combined operation to crack down on counterfeit goods, seizing more than 243,000 fake electronics products, including popular consumer items made by Apple, Samsung, Dr Dre and Blackberry.
US Customs and Border Protection said the month-long operation was the biggest bilateral customs enforcement effort ever conducted by the United States. It focused on seizures of goods in ports as they were exported from China or imported into the United States.
While the operation resulted in only one arrest, US officials said they see it as a sign that the Beijing government is finally acting on their complaints of Chinese theft of intellectual property.
The two countries agreed in recent high-level talks that they would work together to try to stem the large quantities of fake goods flowing between China and the United States.
“Robust enforcement of intellectual property rights allows innovators and creators – whether in a small start-up or an international corporation – to profit from their efforts and gives consumers confidence in the reputations of the products they buy.”
China is the primary source of counterfeit and pirated goods in the United States and accounts for 72 per cent of all seizures relating to intellectual property rights, according to the US agency’s fiscal last year statistics.