Text IV

Pre-reading

Task 1. Look up the pronunciation of the following words in the dictionary:

counterfeit, piracy, commitment, unprecedented, surge, technique, subterfuge, fraudulent.

Task 2. Pronounce the following words (mind the stress).

1. supply, deny, reply

2. dictate, relate

3. surprise, arise, despise

Task 3. Translate the following definitions into Russian.

Counterfeiting involves copying or imitating an industrial, artistic or literary work to the detriment of its author or inventor.

Piracy is the use, reproduction or plagiarism of a work protected by copyright.

Counterfeiting and piracy: crime of the 21st century

Symbols of globalization

It’s 12.54, a 40 foot container full of cosmetics swings overhead, borne by one of the hundreds of cranes in the port of Shanghai. Two seconds later another 40-footer with more than 8 million cigarettes hidden inside is loaded onto a ship bound for West Africa. Only 2 further seconds tick by before a crane swings into action to load a container full of tea en route to Dubai. Every 2 seconds a container leaves the port of Shanghai. Who could fail to be impressed by the never-ending dance of these huge metal boxes, symbols of the globalization of trade!

The one million Customs officers around the world who make up the combined force of all the WCO’s Member administrations have to deal with an annual flow of 400 million containers, and the number is increasing by 10% each year.

It’s 02.00 at Zaventem Airport in Brussels, and under the deafening unrelenting roar of airplane engines, the 100 or so employees of an express courier company start their shift. By daybreak they will have handled between 130 and 140 thousand packages. Every night, as many packages pass through this centre as there are Customs officers in the European Union!

The increase in world trade has generated an unprecedented surge in industrial counterfeiting, and it is against this backdrop that Customs officers must gear up for “mission impossible”: how to stem the tide of counterfeit and pirated goods which is washing over our borders. There is no denying that we have a real fight on our hands. Despite increasingly sophisticated control techniques, and greater awareness and commitment on the part of politicians at the international level, counterfeiting and piracy now form an integral part of the world of consumers albeit often unbeknown to them.

Spoilt for choice

The days when 7 out of 10 companies falling victim to counterfeiters were in the luxury goods industry are long gone. Everything has changed in the past 20 years.

Anything that can be bought and sold is now being counterfeited: soup, mineral water, breast implants, contact lenses, toothpaste, sweets, jam, pharmaceutical products for treating life-threatening conditions such as breast cancer and high blood pressure, pacemakers, baby milk, weapons of war, automobile brake disc pads, etc. There have been big changes in the nature of counterfeit and pirated goods, but the same can be said of the techniques developed by criminal organizations to transport these goods to their ultimate destinations. In fact the modus operandi used to move counterfeit goods is the same as that used to transport drugs. Direct carriage from the country of production to the point of consumption is virtually unheard of these days.

Today, counterfeit goods will cross several borders, or even several continents, passing from port to port and from airport to airport, changing ships or changing planes, using free zones and sometimes even switching transport documents or containers. All this subterfuge has one main priority: to conceal the true origin of the goods and thereby avoid attracting the attention of Customs and other border control services. This technique, commonly known as transshipment or break-bulk transit, is very widespread nowadays, and Customs services have had to adapt their control methods, shifting their focus away from the origin of the suspect goods to the point of dispatch.

Stemming the tide

While it is a fact that almost 80% of counterfeit or pirated goods originate in China, the ever-increasing volume of commercial traffic, the changing nature of products and the new routes used for fraudulent activities, have forced Customs administrations to adapt their control techniques if they are to successfully mount a challenge to this illegal activity. The approach used now involves studying the transport documents for each consignment in order to quantify the potential risks. This new approach ticks all the boxes for what is in fact the primary mission of a Customs service, namely, to facilitate international trade while conducting controls on the movement of goods.

Responding to the threat

Combating counterfeiting and piracy is a priority for the WCO and its Members. To assist its 171 Members to combat counterfeiting and piracy more effectively, the Council adopted a number of new initiatives, both legislative and operational, in the shape of two important instruments: the SECURE (Standards Employed by Customs for Uniform Rights Enforcement) Program and an Action Plan. These two new tools, which are in no way mandatory and will be implemented on a voluntary basis, will lay the foundation for the WCO’s rolling anti-counterfeiting and piracy efforts.

Protecting consumer health and safety is a vital mission for Customs administrations across the globe and it is important that WCO Members equip themselves with new laws and enhanced operational instruments offering practical responses which are commensurate with the risk that counterfeit and pirated products pose.

Jogging your memory:

1. Intellectual property refers to the creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. There are four general types of intellectual property: patents, trademarks and trade dress, copyrights and trade secrets.

2. A patent protects an innovation.

3. A trademark protects the identity of the manufacturer or trader.

4. A registered design or model protects the form and design of an object.

5. Copyright and related rights protect the creator of an intellectual work.

Working on the text

Task 4. Match the terms in column A to their corresponding definitions in column B.

A B

1. counterfeit a) a steady movement of goods from one place to another

2. piracy b) a big mass of something

3. flow c) to copy something in order to deceive people

4. shift d) a way of doing something that is typical of a particular person or group

5. goods e) the place in which something begins to exist

6. modus operandi f) the crime of illegal copying and selling

7. origin g) working for a particular period of time and then being replaced by others

8. bulk h) things that are produced in order to be sold

Task 5. Match the synonyms and translate them into Russian.

counterfeit employee trade consignment commitment integral part traffic fraudulent

hard work and loyalty deceiving a necessary part of something movement of goods, ships, etc. from one place to another the exchange of goods worker fake lot

Task 6. Look through the text and write out the words which have the same form for a verb and a noun.

Task 7. Form adjectives with the opposite meaning using the prefixes un-, il-, im-.

legal important possible

lawful necessary social

limited proper natural

licit probable significant

Task 8. Give the definitions of such crimes as: fraud, forgery, trafficking, passing-off. (You are supposed to know or guess the meaning, but can look up the dictionary to find out.)

Task 9. Match left and right to explain why the IP infringements are perpetrated.

1. to gain a) internal taxes

2. to bypass b) prohibitions and restrictions

3. to avoid c) a money laundering scheme

4. to evade d) an unfair market advantage

5. to be used as e) laws relating to patents and copyrights

Task 10. Answer the following questions.

1. What is globalization?

2. What is the reason for an unprecedented surge in industrial counterfeiting?

3. Why do counterfeiting and piracy form an integral part of the world of consumers?

4. What articles are now being counterfeited in comparison with the past period of 20 years?

5. What is the modus operandi developed by criminal organizations to move counterfeit goods?

6. What technique is widespread now?

7. What has made Customs administrations adapt their control techniques?

8. What initiatives have been adopted by the WCO?

9. Are these tools mandatory?

10. What mission is vital for Customs administrations across the globe?

Task 11. Translate the text from English into Russian.

Infringements of intellectual property are ruinous for any country’s economy. Counterfeiting of trademarks and unauthorized usage of copyright cause enormous losses to the right holders. The right holders may bring an action to court and be granted damages, but sometimes they are not even aware that a violation of the IP right is being committed, and the infringer can be identified only in the course of a special investigation.

Task 12. You know different types of customs violations. The most usual are … (continue the sentence). Why is combating counterfeiting and piracy a priority to the WCO and its members now?

Task 13. Translate the text into English.