CBP does a great job of publicizing their successes. This releasecame across my email recently Baltimore CBP Flexes Muscles Over Phony Fitness Gear. Clever headline, made me read more.

CBP aggressively enforces intellectual property rights (IPR) violations as a priority trade issue. Counterfeit and pirated goods are regularly seized at the border FY 2009 CBP seized over 14,800 shipments valued at over $260 million.

The justification for this heightened oversight is consumer and business protection. As Stephen Dearborn, Acting Port Director for the Port of Baltimore stated, counterfeit exercise equipment can hurt consumers twice. It can cause physical harm if incorrectly or poorly assembled, and it can cause financial pain because the products have very little refund value and impacts the trademark rights holders in lost revenue.

IPR violations hurt consumers and hurt legitimate businesses. Kind of sounds like the negative impact of short weight seafood both consumers and legitimate businesses lose. So is buying and selling frozen product at less than 100% net weight any different from buying and selling counterfeit products? Maybe one day seafood fraud will be a priority trade issue and well see some clever headlines announcing the crack down on seafood fraud.