CBP Seizes $3.2 Million Worth of Belts with Counterfeit Design

December 22, 2009: U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials at Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport complex seized 11,676 belts displaying a counterfeit Burberry design. The belts have an appraised domestic value of $23,954. Had the items been legitimate the value would have been over $3.2 million. On December 18, CBP officials seized the belts for infringing on the Burberry pattern trademark. The shipment arrived from China and the final destination was the state of New Jersey. CBP officers and import specialists work closely with trademark and copyright owners to identify counterfeit and pirated products.

In this case, the Burberry design looked authentic, but the import specialist conducting the inspection was not deceived and forwarded the images to representatives of Burberry LTD to authenticate. Burberry representatives confirmed the belts were not branded to Burberry’s specifications and CBP concluded the design to be counterfeit.

“CBP maintains a very aggressive program to intercept shipments containing commodities which violate any trade laws of the United States,” said Kevin Weeks, director of CBP Los Angeles Field Operations. CBP officers and import specialists in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies and the trade community are working together to reduce the importation of counterfeit products.

The items have been seized and following the normal forfeiture procedures, the belts will be destroyed if they are forfeited to the government.