New US anti-fake law goes into effect

Trade bodies representing brand owners and retailers in the USA which suffer losses from the sale of counterfeit versions of their products are celebrating after a new act designed to prevent retail crime in that country became law. Called the ‘Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers (INFORM Consumers) Act’, this legislation aims to protect US consumers from fakes and stolen goods being sold via online marketplaces.

The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), the Footwear Retailers and Distributors of America (FDRA) and ten other trade organisations had called on Congress to implement the Inform Consumers Act as well as the Shop Safe Act, which makes marketplaces liable for registered trademark infringement by a third-party seller. The FDRA said that it ‘looks forward to building on this Act with additional efforts to strengthen footwear intellectual property protection.’

The law will require e-commerce platforms to establish a hotline or an alternative system to enable users to report suspicious activity, and to verify the identities of high-volume third-party sellers to help combat the sale of counterfeit or stolen goods.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 3 of the July/August 2023 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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