October 26, 2018
Reading time • 5 min
Federal Revenue participates in the IACC – International Anticounterfeiting Coalition in USA
The auditor and head of Direp/08, Alan Towersey, talked about the fight against online counterfeiting.
The auditor and head of the Division of Surveillance and Repression to smuggling – Direp, Alan Towersey, represented the Federal Revenue in the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition (IACC), in Orlando, United States. The invitation was made by the US Department of Justice.
The event, held between October 17th and 19th, included presentations by representatives of brands, of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), of the World Customs Organization (WCO), of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and also representatives of customs, police and public ministries of Latin American countries. The purpose of the event was to discuss international standards for compliance with the registered trademark, patent and copyright law.
Alan Towersey was a panel speaker on “Growth in online counterfeiting challenges governments and industry in new ways’. He explained the difficulties to identify criminal organizations in online commerce through marketplaces, a kind of virtual shopping center. The auditor pointed out the cooperation with the operators of these marketplaces and the government database as a beneficial solution to reduce advertisements for illicit goods on their platforms.
Talking about the transnational trade, the auditor talked about the intense use of e-commerce to import counterfeit products. According to him, the answer should be risk management and cooperation with brands to identify irregularities. He also emphasized the need for simplified procedures to identify and process of goods suspected goods of infringing copyright and trademark law.
During the event, the auditor Alan Towersey emphasized the Intellectual Property course, with a module for Customs, run at the International IP Investigators College. Another highlight was the launch of the Application (APP) of IACC, available on Google Play and App Store, with information and training on how to recognize counterfeiting. Both tools are free for the Federal Revenue officials, simply by performing the registration with corporate email.
Also, during the meeting, the BPG group, an association of brand protection in Brazil, signed an agreement with IACC for cooperation, including training of public agents.
What is the IACC?
The International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC) is an international non-profit organization with headquartered in Washington, United States. It represents the interest of companies
concerned about counterfeiting and crimes against intellectual property. Many of the world’s best-known brands across all product sectors are members to IACC.
