U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Louisville, Kentucky, intercepted a shipment from China containing hundreds of counterfeit luxury watches that, if real, would be worth more than $54 million, the agency exclusively told The Epoch Times on Tuesday.
Part of border officers’ wide scope of responsibility and enforcement is recognizing intellectual property rights (IPR) violations, which have seen a sharp increase in recent years in the total amount of items seized, according to the latest CBP data.
“Intellectual property theft threatens America’s economic vitality and funds criminal activities and organized crime,” Louisville Port Director Philip Onken said. “Our officers protect private industry and consumers by removing these kinds of shipments from our commerce.” …