[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 101 (Thursday, May 25, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33872-33874]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10770]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office

[Docket No. PTO-C-2023-0006]


Future Strategies in Anticounterfeiting and Antipiracy

AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public roundtable and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is 
working across government and with the private sector to address 
counterfeiting and piracy. As part of that effort, the USPTO wants to 
learn what interested parties are observing and seeks their insights 
into anticounterfeiting and antipiracy strategies. In particular, the 
USPTO requests information on current anticounterfeiting and antipiracy 
strategies that have proven effective, as well as ideas for future 
strategies. To facilitate discussion among members of the public 
regarding the future of anticounterfeiting and antipiracy, the USPTO 
will host a roundtable on the topics listed in this notice on October 
3. Any additional roundtables will be announced through the Federal 
Register.

DATES: Comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on August 23, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments and responses to the questions below 
by one of the following methods:
    (1) Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic comments via the 
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov (at the homepage, 
enter ``PTO-C-2023-0006'' in the ``Search''' box, click the ``Comment 
Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your 
comments). The materials in the docket will not be edited to remove 
identifying or contact information, and the USPTO cautions against 
including any information in an electronic submission that the 
submitter does not want publicly disclosed. Attachments to electronic 
comments will be accepted only in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or 
Adobe PDF formats. Comments containing references to studies, research, 
and other empirical data that are not widely published should include 
copies of the referenced materials. Please do not submit additional 
materials. If you want to submit a comment with confidential business 
information that you do not wish to be made public, please submit the 
comment as a written/paper submission in the manner detailed below.
    (2) Written/Paper Submissions: Send all written/paper submissions 
to: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Mail Stop OPIA, P.O. Box 
1450, Alexandria, VA 22314. Submission packaging should clearly 
indicate that materials are responsive to Docket No. PTO-C-2023-0006, 
Office of Policy and International Affairs, Comment Request; Future 
Strategies in Anticounterfeiting and Antipiracy.
    Submissions of Confidential Business Information: Any submissions 
containing confidential business information must be delivered in a 
sealed envelope marked ``confidential treatment requested'' to the 
address listed above. Submitters should provide an index listing the 
document(s) or information they would like the USPTO to withhold. The 
index should include information such as numbers used to identify the 
relevant document(s) or information, document title(s) and 
description(s), and relevant page numbers and/or section numbers within 
a document. Submitters should provide a statement explaining their 
grounds for objecting to the disclosure of the information to the 
public. The USPTO also requests that submitters of confidential 
business information include a non-confidential version (either 
redacted or summarized) of those confidential submissions that will be 
available for public viewing and posted on www.regulations.gov. In the 
event that the submitter cannot provide a non-confidential version of 
its submission, the USPTO requests that the submitter post a notice in 
the docket stating that it has provided the USPTO with confidential 
business information. Should a submitter fail to docket a non-
confidential version of its submission or post a notice that 
confidential business information has been provided, the

[[Page 33873]]

USPTO will note the receipt of the submission on the docket with the 
submitter's organization or name (to the degree permitted by law) and 
the date of submission.

Instructions for and Information on the Public Roundtable Event

    At least one roundtable event will be held at the USPTO, Madison 
Building, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, and there will be an 
option to attend virtually. The roundtable will begin at 10 a.m. and 
end at 1 p.m. Registration for both in-person and virtual options is 
available, along with the agenda, at www.uspto.gov/about-us/events/roundtable-future-strategies-anticounterfeiting-and-antipiracy. 
Although the USPTO strongly encourages advance registration, attendees 
may also register at the door one hour prior to the beginning of the 
roundtable. The platform for attending virtually will be made available 
at www.uspto.gov/about-us/events/roundtable-future-strategies-anticounterfeiting-and-antipiracy along with instructions for 
attending.
    The roundtable will be physically accessible to people with 
disabilities. Individuals requiring accommodation, such as sign 
language interpretation or other ancillary aids, should communicate 
their needs at least seven business days prior to the roundtable to 
Velica Dunn in the USPTO's Office of Policy and International Affairs 
at 571-272-9300, at [email protected], or by postal mail addressed 
to: Mail Stop OPIA, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 
1450, Alexandria, VA 22314-1450, ATTN: Velica Dunn. Attendees joining 
in person should arrive at least a half hour prior to the start of the 
roundtable and must present valid government-issued photo 
identification upon arrival.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ameen Imam, USPTO, Office of Policy 
and International Affairs, at 571-272-9300 or [email protected]. 
Please direct media inquiries to the USPTO's Office of the Chief 
Communications Officer at 571-272-8400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Counterfeited and pirated products are 
readily available to U.S. consumers through all forms of commerce, 
including physical markets, ecommerce, and social media sites. Many of 
these counterfeited and pirated products endanger public health and 
safety, as well as national security. The scope of counterfeited and 
pirated products seeking entry into the U.S. market is significant. For 
instance, in fiscal year (FY) 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
made over 27,000 seizures with an estimated manufacturer's suggested 
retail price of over $3.3. billion, which represents an increase of 
152% over the previous fiscal year. See U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection, ``FY 2021 IPR [Intellectual Property Rights] Seizure 
Statistics,'' available at www.cbp.gov/document/annual-report/fy-2021-ipr-seizure-statistics. The trade in counterfeited and pirated products 
also negatively impacts American innovation and erodes the 
competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers and workers. For example, digital 
video piracy conservatively causes lost domestic revenues of at least 
$29.2 billion and as much as $71.0 billion annually. Furthermore, 
digital video piracy not only causes lost revenues to the content 
industry, but also ``results in losses to the U.S. economy of between 
230,000 and 560,000 jobs and between $47.5 billion and $115.3 billion 
in reduced gross domestic product (GDP) each year.'' See U.S. Chamber 
of Commerce, ``Quick Take: Your Primer on Digital Piracy and Its Impact 
on the U.S. Economy,'' available at www.uschamber.com/intellectual-property/quick-take-your-primer-digital-piracy-and-its-impact-the-us-economy.
    The COVID-19 pandemic has provided fertile ground for an increase 
in the sale and distribution of counterfeited, especially those that 
are health-related. For example, U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
seized 35 million counterfeit face masks in FY 2021. It is estimated 
that the trade in counterfeited and pirated goods has risen steadily in 
recent years and stands at 3.3% of global trade. See Organization for 
Economic Cooperation and Development iLibrary, ``Trends in Trade in 
Counterfeit and Pirated Goods,'' available at www.oecd-ilibrary.org/trade/trends-in-trade-in-counterfeit-and-pirated-goods_g2g9f533-en. The 
USPTO has worked to address the issue of counterfeiting and piracy 
through various efforts, including its Intellectual Property 
Attach[eacute] Program, its public awareness programs, and technical 
assistance provided to trade partners. Through these efforts, the USPTO 
has observed that counterfeiters and those trading in counterfeited and 
pirated goods continually evolve their methods to evade detection so 
they can expand the flow of dangerous products. Rights holders, online 
platforms, physical markets, and all other stakeholders in the stream 
of commerce have also used evolving methods to combat the increasing 
availability of counterfeited and pirated products made accessible 
directly to consumers.
    The USPTO seeks information from interested parties regarding their 
observations and insights into the future of anticounterfeiting and 
antipiracy strategies. In particular, the USPTO requests information 
from consumers, intellectual property rights holders, online 
marketplaces and platforms, physical marketplaces, parties who provide 
goods to the public, consumers, and other private sector stakeholders 
on the evolution of counterfeiting and piracy in recent years and ways 
to identify and develop future anticounterfeiting and antipiracy 
strategies.

Request for Information

    The USPTO requests information from all interested parties, 
including stakeholders, trademark and copyright owners affected by the 
sale of counterfeited and pirated goods, online and physical sellers 
and marketplaces, other online platforms, consumers, and other parties 
engaged in the fight against counterfeited and pirated goods entering 
the stream of commerce and reaching the hands of consumers.
    Respondents may address any, all, or none of the following 
questions. One should identify, where possible, the question(s) the 
comments are intended to address. Respondents may organize their 
submissions in any manner. Please note that respondents have the 
opportunity to request that any information contained in a submission 
be treated as confidential business information and must certify that 
such information is confidential and would not customarily be released 
to the public by the submitter. Confidential business information must 
be clearly designated as such and provided only by mail carrier (Please 
see the ADDRESSES section above).
    The USPTO welcomes all input relevant to future strategies in the 
fight to prevent counterfeited and pirated goods from entering the 
stream of commerce and reaching the hands of consumers. In particular, 
we seek the following information:
    1. Please identify current anticounterfeiting and antipiracy 
strategies and any trends you see in how often these practices are 
guiding the public's plans for addressing these issues in the future.
    2. Please identify the types of harms you have observed from sales 
of counterfeited and pirated goods.
    3. Please indicate how consumers are educated about the harms and 
dangers that may result from the use and sale of counterfeited or 
pirated products.

[[Page 33874]]

    4. Please describe current anticounterfeiting and antipiracy 
strategies that may be available, identifying which elements have 
proven successful and those that have not. Your answer should identify 
the targets of anticounterfeiting and antipiracy efforts, such as 
ecommerce platforms, physical markets, and social media.
    5. Please identify the challenges you anticipate in the ongoing 
fight to prevent counterfeited and pirated goods from entering the 
stream of commerce and reaching the hands of consumers. Please add 
information on how those challenges might be addressed.
    6. What patterns and trends have you observed in counterfeiting and 
piracy during the COVID-19 pandemic? Do you anticipate that these 
patterns and trends will continue past the pandemic?
    7. What patterns and trends have you observed in counterfeiting and 
piracy due to shifts in the economy? Do you anticipate that these 
patterns and trends will continue? And if so, what impact will they 
have on any current and future strategic plans to combat counterfeiting 
and piracy?
    8. Please indicate whether any strategic plans to combat 
counterfeiting and piracy might include collaboration with private or 
public parties, and if a strategic plan is not collaborative, please 
explain why not. If a strategic plan does include collaboration, please 
describe the anticounterfeiting and antipiracy strategies employed in 
the collaboration.
    9. Are you considering new collaborative efforts to combat 
counterfeiting and piracy? What factors will affect your decision? How 
might those future collaborations be comprised?
    10. Please identify effective technologies for use in the fight to 
prevent counterfeited and pirated goods from entering the stream of 
commerce and reaching the hands of consumers, such as counterfeited 
product identification devices or advanced algorithms to secure supply 
chains and identify counterfeited goods online. Please explain how any 
anticipated strategies will improve an overall anticounterfeiting and 
antipiracy strategy.
    11. Please describe how online enforcement activities intersect 
with trademark and copyright laws or procedures. Do online enforcement 
strategies include employing existing trademark laws to combat online 
counterfeiting? Do online enforcement strategies use existing copyright 
laws to combat online piracy? If so, please describe in detail those 
activities, and provide any suggestions for maximizing these practices.
    12. Please describe any fraudulent documentation or materials you 
have observed in the furtherance of online counterfeiting and piracy 
activity. For example, after reporting infringements to platforms, have 
you seen fraudulent materials attached to a counter-notification?
    13. Please provide any data you have on counterfeiting and piracy, 
including any data showing how the activities may adversely or 
disproportionately affect certain industries or companies.
    14. Please share your thoughts on what more the USPTO or government 
and private parties can do to ensure entities, including under-
resourced individuals and small businesses, can readily enforce their 
intellectual property rights against counterfeited or pirated goods. 
What other solutions have you seen or can you envision?

Katherine K. Vidal,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of 
the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2023-10770 Filed 5-24-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P