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16 Intell. Prop. L. Bull. 137 (2011-2012)
Culture, Poverty, and Trademarks: An Overview of the Creation and Persistence of Chinese Counterfeiting and How to Combat It

handle is hein.journals/iprop16 and id is 149 raw text is: Culture, Poverty, and Trademarks: An
Overview of the Creation and Persistence
of Chinese Counterfeiting and How to
Combat It
KIMBERLY SHANE*
INTRODUCTION
Counterfeiting is an estimated 600 billion dollar a year problem
that has grown over 10,000% in the last twenty years.' From Duracell
batteries that last only two days,2 to North Face winter gloves that do
not keep you warm,' to Viagra pills that can induce brain damage and
even death,4 counterfeiting has penetrated virtually every product
market and every country throughout the world.' In 2011, the United
States Custom and Border Protection confiscated 1.1 billion dollars of
counterfeit and pirated goods.6 The International Anti-Counterfeiting
Coalition (IACC) estimates counterfeit goods account for five to
seven percent of all world trade.' China continues to be recognized as
the top country in the manufacturing and exporting of counterfeit
goods,' even though the global community continues to pressure
* Ms. Shane is a 2012 Juris Doctor candidate at the University of San Francisco School of Law
and received her B.A. from the University of Vermont in 2009. The author thanks the law firms
of Wan Hui Da in Beijing. China and Sideman & Bancroft, LLP in San Francisco for the
inspiration and knowledge acquired during her intellectual property internships and Professor
Julie Nice for her research support and refreshing social justice perspective on the affects of
intellectual property law. She also thanks the members of the Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
who helped greatly in developing and revising this Comment.
1.  About   Counterfeiting,  INT'L  ANTI -COUNTERFEITING  COALITION  (IACC),
http://www.iacc.org/about-counterfeiting/ (last visited Mar. 26, 2012).
2.  See Mark Litke, China Big in Counterfeit Goods, ABC NEWS (April 21, 2011),
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=130381&page=1.
3.  Id.
4.  Ramona Bates, Dangerous Problems with Counterfeit Viagra, EMAXHEALIII.COM
(Feb. 24, 2009), http://www.emaxhealth.com/1024/52/29447/dangerous-problems-counterfeit-
viagra.html. Some of the fake drugs were diabetes medications, resulting in severe
hypoglveemia in non-diabetic men and leading to brain damage and multiple deaths. Shih Ling
Kao et al., An Unusual Outbreak of Hypoglycemia, 360 N. ENGL 3. MED 734, 734-35 (2(X)9),
http://www.ncjm.org/doi/pdf/l1.1056/NEJMcO807678.
5.  See Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Enforcemcnt
of Intellectual Property Rights:Comm unication from the European Communities. IP/C/W/448
(June            9,           2005),                       available          at
https://www.ige.ch/fileadmin/user upload/JuristischeInfos/e/jl 10123c.pdf.
6.  CBP OFFICE OF INT'L TRADE, INTELLECTUAL PROPI RTY RIGHTS: FISCAL YEAR
2011   SEIZUR     STATISTICS   EXECUTIVE    SUMMARY      (2011),  available  at
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandier/cgov/trade/priority-trade/ipr/ipr-communications/scizure/ipr-se
izures fy20 I.ctt/ipr seizure fy211 .pdf. Estimates based on the manufacturer's suggested retail
price, from 24,792 seizures. Id. at 6.
7.  About Counterfeiting, supra note 1.
8.  CBP OFFICE OF INT'L TRADE, supra, note 6.

137

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