Faux finish

We reported on the seizure of nearly 20,000 mobile phones deemed to be outright counterfeits by federal officials. In the suspected bogus category, there also were 2,000 headsets, 462 boxes of accessories and a wad of cash totaling $210,990. Many of the big names – Motorola Inc. Nokia Corp., Samsung Electronics Ltd., LG Electronics Co. Ltd. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. – were invoked through an alleged imitation scheme that undoubtedly failed to flatter the real brand owners.
All told, wow, what a bust by U.S. law enforcement agents!
Or was it?
In this case, according to the complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell in federal court, the seizure came about in March after Customs and Border Protection import specialists assigned to John F. Kennedy Airport International decided to check out some shipments from China. One thing led to another and, before they knew it, U.S. agents were looking at a hefty inventory of likely copycat wireless stock that could fill any major electronic retailer’s stockroom. But you cannot always count on solid investigatory work, good intelligence, a lucky tip now and then, and industry cooperation to yield the kind of results achieved by feds in New York.
As such, it begs the question: Just how big a problem is wireless counterfeiting in the United States and the rest of the world? The same goes for trafficking of prepaid mobile phones bought in the states, hacked and then resold abroad. Initially, it was thought the illegal practice was unique to TracFone Wireless Inc., with the U.S. prepaid market king assuming an aggressive posture by working with law enforcement and filing scores of trademark infringement lawsuits throughout the country. But now, we see major mobile-phone carriers and handset makers also asking courts to halt prepaid phone trafficking.
Assuming what we know about wireless counterfeiting and illegal prepaids represents only the proverbial tip of the iceberg, one has wonder just how are these illegal profits being used. To buy food, clothes and other essentials? Or perhaps for something more nefarious?
The overhang of revenue-draining counterfeiting and trafficking are big drags on wireless companies struggling to keep Wall Street and shareholders happy in a rough-and-tumble economy.