Intellectual Property Law

Seattle's U.S. Attorney's Office Seizes Domain Names Linked to Counterfeiting

By Michael Atkins

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle says it seized the domain names of four Web sites suspected of selling counterfeit Nike and Timberland footwear, NFL jerseys, and illegal downloads of copyrighted movies. (Press release here; Seattle P-I story here.)

The press release says this is the “second phase” of a “national crackdown” on the sale of counterfeit and pirated goods over the Internet undertaken by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. The move, which took place on Cyber Monday (Nov. 29), is code named “Operation In Our Sites v. 2.0.”

Apparently Version 1.0 occurred in June, in which authorities executed seizure warrants against nine domain names associated with Web sites that sold pirated copies of first-run movies.

The domain names (now disabled) reportedly include b2corder.com and merrytimberland.com, both of which were suspected of selling counterfeit Timberland footwear. Another website, www.mytend.com, allegedly sold counterfeit Nike shoes and NFL jerseys, as well as pirated exercise videos. The fourth website, www.boxsetseries.com sold DVD box sets of copyrighted television shows.

U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan stated: 'This is but one step we will take to disrupt the illegal sale of these counterfeit goods during the holiday shopping season and beyond.'

The nationwide operation was spearheaded by the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), which sprang from the recent PRO-IP Act (discussed here, here, and here).

Full post as published by Seattle Trademark Lawyer on December 01, 2010 (boomark / email).