This Week In IP: The CFDA Goes to Washington & Counterfeit Military Parts
June 17, 2011 § 1 Comment
This week has been a busy one in the fight against counterfeits. CFDA President, Diane Von Furstenberg and CFDA Executive Director, Steven Kolb took a trip to Washington to speak to Congress about the importance of design protection. (The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act in December). Steven Kolb posted to twitter as Furstenberg spoke to legislators: “We need to value creativity. Not having protection is embarrassing — @dvf.”
(Image From Steven Kolb’s Tumblr of Furstenberg, Kolb & Rep. Nancy Pelosi)
Another big story to hit the press this week was the probe into counterfeit military parts that have been sold to the Unites States government from China. The Senate Armed Services committee began to investigate counterfeits in March, but the Chinese have refused to provide Visas to investigators trying to locate the source of the counterfeits. According to a recent article on Bloomberg.com, the DCIS also is investigating over 200 allegations of substandard or non-conforming parts that do not meet military specifications. Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin and Arizona Senator John McCain sent letters to the Chinese consulate in Washington to request the visas, but Chinese officials had asked them to postpone the investigators’ trip.
Counterfeit military parts. . wow, this is definitely serious, it is beyond hurting someones bottom line, it is putting lives in danger.