[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 32 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 32

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide criminal penalties 
                 for trafficking in counterfeit marks.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 4, 2005

 Mr. Knollenberg (for himself, Mr. Green of Wisconsin, Mr. Ehlers, Mr. 
Simmons, Mr. Gillmor, Mr. Smith of Texas, Mr. Coble, Mr. McCotter, Mr. 
  Camp, Mr. Upton, Mr. Rogers of Michigan, Mr. Wexler, Mr. Levin, Mr. 
Rohrabacher, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Weldon of Pennsylvania, Mrs. Miller of 
 Michigan, Mr. Hoekstra, Mr. Chabot, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. McGovern, and Mr. 
    Terry) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide criminal penalties 
                 for trafficking in counterfeit marks.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Stop 
Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act''.
    (b) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) the United States economy is losing millions of dollars 
        in tax revenue and tens of thousands of jobs because of the 
        manufacture, distribution, and sale of counterfeit goods;
            (2) the U.S. Customs Service and Border Protection 
        estimates that counterfeiting costs the U.S. $200 billion 
        annually;
            (3) counterfeit automobile parts, including brake pads, 
        cost the auto industry alone billions of dollars in lost sales 
        each year;
            (4) counterfeit products have invaded numerous industries 
        including those producing auto parts, electrical appliances, 
        medicines, tools, toys, office equipment, clothing, and many 
        other products;
            (5) ties have been established between counterfeiting and 
        terrorist organizations that use the sale of counterfeit goods 
        to raise and launder money;
            (6) ongoing counterfeiting of manufactured goods poses a 
        widespread threat to public health and safety; and
            (7) strong domestic criminal remedies against 
        counterfeiting will permit the United States to seek stronger 
        anticounterfeiting provisions in bilateral and international 
        agreements with trading partners.

SEC. 2. TRAFFICKING IN COUNTERFEIT MARKS.

    Section 2320 of title 18, United States Code, is amended as 
follows:
            (1) Subsection (a) is amended by inserting after ``such 
        goods or services'' the following: ``, or intentionally 
        traffics or attempts to traffic in labels, patches, stickers, 
        wrappers, badges, emblems, medallions, charms, boxes, 
        containers, cans, cases, hangtags, documentation, or packaging 
        of any type or nature to which a counterfeit mark is knowingly 
        applied,''.
            (2) Subsection (b) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(b)(1) Upon a determination by a preponderance of the evidence 
that any article in the possession of a defendant in a prosecution 
under this section bears or consists of a counterfeit mark, the court 
shall order the forfeiture and destruction of such article, regardless 
of whether the defendant is convicted of an offense under this section.
    ``(2) The court, in imposing a sentence upon a person convicted of 
a violation of this section, or upon a person who pleads guilty or nolo 
contendre to a violation of this section, shall order, in addition to 
any other sentence imposed, that the person forfeit to the United 
States--
            ``(A) any property constituting or derived from any 
        proceeds the person obtained, directly or indirectly, as the 
        result of such violation, and
            ``(B) any of the person's property used, or intended to be 
        used, in any manner or part, to commit, facilitate, aid, or 
        abet the commission of such violation,
if the court in its discretion so determines, taking into account the 
nature, scope, and proportionality of the use of the property in the 
offense.
    ``(3) When a person is convicted of an offense under this section, 
or pleads guilty or nolo contendre to an offense under this section, 
the court, pursuant to sections 3556, 3663A, and 3664, shall order the 
person to pay restitution to the owner of the mark and any other victim 
of the offense as an offense against property referred to in section 
3663A(c)(1)(A)(ii).
    ``(4) The term `victim', as used in paragraph (3), has the meaning 
given that term in section 3663A(a)(2).''.
            (3) Subsection (e)(1) is amended--
                    (A) by striking subparagraph (A) and inserting the 
                following:
                    ``(A) a spurious mark--
                            ``(i) that is used in connection with 
                        trafficking in any goods, services, labels, 
                        patches, stickers, wrappers, badges, emblems, 
                        medallions, charms, boxes, containers, cans, 
                        cases, hangtags, documentation, or packaging of 
                        any type or nature;
                            ``(ii) that is identical with, or 
                        substantially indistinguishable from, a mark 
                        registered on the principal register in the 
                        United States Patent and Trademark Office and 
                        in use, whether or not the defendant knew such 
                        mark was so registered;
                            ``(iii) that is applied to or used in 
                        connection with the goods or services for which 
                        the mark is registered with the United States 
                        Patent and Trademark Office, or is applied to 
                        or consists of a label, patch, sticker, 
                        wrapper, badge, emblem, medallion, charm, box, 
                        container, can, case, hangtag, documentation, 
                        or packaging of any type or nature that is 
                        capable of being applied to or used in 
                        connection with the goods or services for which 
                        the mark is registered in the United States 
                        Patent and Trademark Office; and
                            ``(iv) the use of which is likely to cause 
                        confusion, to cause mistake, or to deceive; 
                        or''; and
                    (B) in the matter following subparagraph (B), by 
                striking ``used in connection with goods or services'' 
                and inserting ``that is applied to goods, or used in 
                connection with services,''.
            (4) Section 2320 is further amended--
                    (A) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection 
                (g); and
                    (B) by inserting after subsection (e) the 
                following:
    ``(f) Nothing in this section shall entitle the United States to 
bring a criminal cause of action for the repackaging, without 
deception, of genuine goods or services.''.
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