US Declares war on IP Theft

Here in Brazil you can see lots of counterfeit goods, much which you can buy off the street or even in some stores. But interestingly enough, some goods you can't sell: like Barbie or Spiderman. My wife was told by a merchant that if you start selling those, you'll be closed down and arrested faster than you can say "Scooby doo". In a way it indicates that most companies are apathetic, if you really want to stop counterfeiting, you can do it.
...John Ashcroft announced measures to expand and strengthen specialist units to fight intellectual property crimes in the United States and in Eastern Europe and Asia, where many counterfeit goods are made.... link
In a way, by having the goverment do all the monitoring and crackdown you are having the taxpayers pay for this work.

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