NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – Disney and Marvel-branded items were among the more than $130,000 in counterfeit products seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers recently at the Area Port of Norfolk-Newport News, Va.
According to the agency’s Baltimore Field Office, officers became suspicious about two shipments with more than 3,200 items that arrived from Istanbul, Turkey Sept. 21. One of those shipments, with 2,562 items, was headed to an address near Wilmington, Del. and the other, with 654 items, was on its way to a location near Baltimore, Md.
A day later, after submitting documentation and photographs to the agency’s trade experts at the Apparel, Footwear and Textiles’ Centers of Excellence and Expertise, it verified that the items were not authentic and had infringing trademarks and copyrights recorded with Customs and Border Protection through the e-Recordation program, the field office said.
The shipments included backpacks and clothing with Disney and Marvel characters, mattress covers and infant loungers bearing counterfeit OKEO-TEX product safety labels, mosaic lamps bearing counterfeit Underwriters Laboratories safety certification marks, in violation of copyrights recorded with Customs and Border Protection, according to the field office.
Officers seized the counterfeit goods Oct. 11.
“Unscrupulous vendors threaten the health and safety of unsuspecting consumers by peddling counterfeit goods as authentic and safe products, and as a grandparent, these seizures are particularly worrisome considering that some of these consumer goods were infant and children’s products,” said Mark Laria, CBP’s area port director for the Area Port of Norfolk-Newport News. “CBP strongly encourages consumers to protect their families by purchasing authentic goods from reputable vendors.”
The agency said no one has been charged as the investigation continues.
From July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021, officers and Homeland Security Investigations special agents seized more than 27,000 shipments with items that violated intellectual property rights.
Customs and Border Protection officers at the Area Port of Norfolk-Newport News conduct trade enforcement and security operations in the Chesapeake Bay region.
