From: Caribseek News
Deputy Commander of the Counter Terrorism and Organized Crime (CTOC) Investigation Branch, Senior Superintendent Clifford Chambers and Executive Director of Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO), Lilyclaire Bellamy, inspect footwear seized over the last 12 months as part of efforts to end Intellectual Property (IP) theft. Occasion was a media briefing, held on April 28 at the CTOC head office at Ocean Boulevard, downtown Kingston.
KINGSTON (JIS) — The Counter Terrorism and Organized Crime Investigation Branch (CTOC) has seized $1.5 billion worth of items found in breach of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), over the past 12 months. Deputy Commander of CTOC, Senior Superintendent Clifford Chambers, said that the items seized resulted from 32 major operations conducted islandwide, which led to 112 interviews, 25 arrests for serious IPR breaches and 12 convictions. Some of the items recovered include over six million CDs, DVDs, 33,000 counterfeit footwear, 25,000 pieces of apparel, counterfeit cigarettes, bleaching cream, T-shirts, rum and handbags. “The items seized were manufactured predominantly in Asian countries and distributed on an industrial scale to Jamaica, with complete disregard for the health and safety of the consumers,” SSP Chambers said.
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“IP theft robs billions from the Jamaican economy and places the health and safety of consumers at risk. In addition, it funds organized crime. Today, virtually no product is too obscure or insignificant for the counterfeiters, and no industry is immune to this illegal activity,” SSP Chambers said.
