Last month we reported that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had started to seize domain names even if the registrant and all associated content was based outside of the US. These raids were designed to target people involved in illegal activities that infringed on US copyright, and the movement or pirating of goods within the United States. Throughout the campaign ICE have taken down numerous websites and seized a total of 141 domains, which were supposedly being used for such illegal activities.

Last week, another individual was arrested, but this time on American soil. Ryan Breen, a 31 year old New York resident was arrested and charged for “using the Internet to traffic in counterfeit goods” and faces a maximum penalty of ten years behind bars and a fine of anywhere up to $2 million. Breen previously owned and ran a site that sold unauthorised clothing and accessories from the FX Network TV program “Sons of Anarchy”. The clothing was entirely counterfeit, and featured the shows logo and branding, used without their permission. The domain name has so far remained unnamed.

Whereas previous arrests seem to have been related with piracy and illegal download sites, these particular seizures and arrests are to do with physical products being sold on American soil, or infringing on American Trademarks. It’s interesting that ICE have changed tactics, as I know of several very well-known torrent and download sites that are still alive and well where thousands of films are downloaded every day. You would think that high profile sites such as these would be top of the hit list. It looks like ICE are taking an “across the board” approach and making examples of people in several different “sectors” of illegal online activity.

This latest batch of seizures marks ICE’s sixth phase in their fight against illegal activity targeting the US, and they seized 16 other domains targeting well-known brands such as Gucci, Lacoste, Oakley and Ralph Lauren. All of the domains seized hosted sites selling knock off goods posing as the genuine article. They included: ralphlauren-polos.org, menlacosteshoes.com and discountedoakleysunglasses.com.

To determine if the activity on the domains was definitely illegal, undercover agents made purchases from the sites, and when they were determined to be counterfeit, they obtained seizure orders for the domains and replaced the active site with a banner stating that the domains had been seized by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Some would say it’s quite handy for the organisations that are being targeted and having their goods replicated. They don’t have to pay for a UDRP to recover the domains or file any legal disputes themselves – they can simply rely on the work of ICE!

It seems that ICE is on the rampage against counterfeit and pirated goods and anyone in the business of producing and selling knock off merchandise would do well to sit up and take note. No one wants US immigration knocking down their door!

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