Washington – Leaders of the House Committee on the Judiciary have reintroduced the Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-commerce Act (“SHOP SAFE Act”). Similar misguided legislation was introduced last Congress, and was widely opposed by dozens of businesses, civil society organizations, and trademark scholars.
Last year, Computer & Communications Industry Association President Matt Schruers testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Intellectual Property that online services take this issue seriously and invest in ways to reduce counterfeit products including brand registration programs and tools to automatically remove confirmed counterfeit products.
The following can be attributed to CCIA President & CEO Matt Schruers:
“The SHOP Safe Act unfortunately does little to remove more counterfeit goods and places more burdens on sellers and brand owners. Digital services share the goal of ensuring consumers can trust what they buy online, and offer programs to automatically remove confirmed counterfeit products. U.S. policymakers should exercise caution before enacting measures to make U.S. online services shoulder the burden of protecting overseas luxury brands and to incentivize brandowners to persecute legitimate U.S. businesses instead of the counterfeiters.”