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Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement SECTION 2 FIG. 39: Enforcement Activity Suggests the Scope of Problem Is Large. 57 TIP OF THE ICEBERG (WHAT WE SEE): • Operation Watch: One not-for-profit trade association identified the availability of over 30,000 individual images of counterfeit goods on one social media platform in just one day • Operation Jasper: Law enforcement in the United Kingdom took down over 4,300 social media listings featuring counterfeit products over the course of a few weeks. Since its launch, the operation has seen over 95,000 images of counterfeit goods removed from social platforms. • A study estimated that approximately one quarter of ads on one leading social media site were for counterfeit goods BELOW THE SURFACE (THE DANGERS OF WHAT WE DON’T KNOW): • Size and scope by the issue, by platform and industry • Associated illicit activity, such as PII theft and other consumer frauds According to one United Kingdom law enforcement report, social media has recently overtaken online auction sites as criminals’ “channel-of-choice” for counterfeit and piracy activity. 56 Rogue actors operating in social media channels seek to deceive consumers in a number of relevant ways. These methods include: using social media tools to generate web traffic and divert consumers to websites selling their infringing products; using in-site “buy buttons” facilitating purchases directly from page posts and ads; relying on pseudonymous product reviews, blog entries and fabricated social media profiles to provide an aura of legitimacy; and using links and paid-for advertising space on social media platforms to generate illicit profits through the unlawful exploitation of third-party content. 58 On the content-side, it has been reported that in the first quarter of 2015 alone, 725 of the 1,000 most watched videos on a leading U.S.-based social media site were unauthorized re-uploads from other mediahosting websites, generating a total of 17 billion misappropriated views in this short period. 59 These unauthorized re-uploads threaten the livelihood of original content creators and the artistic community as it deprives them of payment for their works, while simultaneously creating the possibility that unwarranted profits will be generated by social media channels through paid-for advertising featured alongside such unauthorized copyrighted content. 60 Going forward, industry and policymakers must work together to address copyright infringement facilitated through the use of social media channels. In light of the volume of traffic and the complexity of the issues (including free speech and privacy rights of social media users), coupled with the threats to public health and safety (such as with the sale of fake medicines) and infringement of copyrights, the social media industry has an important role to play to establish meaningful standards and best practices to curb illicit activities on their respective platforms, while protecting the rights and ability of users to use those platforms for non-infringing and other lawful activities. ACTION NO. 2.13: Encourage the development of industry standards and best practices, through a multistakeholder process, to curb abuses of social media channels for illicit purposes, while protecting the rights of users to use those channels for non-infringing and other lawful activities. Social media platforms generally have terms of services prohibiting unlawful practices, and opportunities exist to enhance express prohibitions with respect to copyright infringement and the promotion and sale of counterfeit merchandise, 72
Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator as well the development of “repeat infringer” policies to address notorious or serial, bad faith offenders. Platforms should explore and adopt mechanisms that may facilitate the effective reporting of clear IP-related abuses of their services, while protecting the rights of users to use those platforms for non-infringing and other lawful activities. One underutilized resource may be the users themselves, who may be in a position to report suspicious product offerings or other illicit activity, if provided a streamlined opportunity to do so, as some social media companies are beginning to explore. ACTION NO. 2.14: Encourage the development of “know your seller” programs for social media channels engaged in e-commerce. In order to minimize the exploitation of a site’s services and platforms by entities engaged in the sale of counterfeit goods, social media platforms could consider requiring new sellers using the social media platform to submit to a multi-factor verification system or other mechanism to support a “trusted” seller and advertiser program. 4. Support Practices and Policies to Reduce Intellectual Property Infringement Facilitated by Mobile Apps. Mobile applications (apps) have changed the way people communicate and access, share, and interact with information. More than 3 billion people, or 44 percent of the world’s population, will access the Internet in 2016— and two billion of them will use only mobile devices to do so. 61 As more people access creative content, e-commerce, financial services, and lifestyle services from FIG. 40: Mobile App Usage on the Rise. 63 Mobile applications user in millions 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 38.7 69.1 100.4 136.3 174.9 2009 2010 2011 2012* 2013* 2014* 2015* their smartphones and tablets, mobile app downloads and engagement is expected to continue to increase exponentially. Indeed, a recent study reported that overall app usage grew by 58 percent in 2015. 62 Millions of apps currently exist in today’s mobile app market, and with 1,000 new apps added daily, the mobile apps market continues to thrive. 65 The same low entry barriers that catalyze innovation also make mobile apps an attractive outlet for illicit IP-related activity, including: counterfeit apps, such as fake antivirus, browsers, and games; 66 apps filled with content stripped from another app or site without authorization; 67 and apps that illegally stream copyrighted content such as hit TV shows or movies. 68 A fake version of the popular “Angry Birds” game, for example, was reported to contain harmful malware in the form of a “Trojan horse” virus. 69 The growth of illicit apps must be viewed in the larger context of opportunistic, cyber-based illicit activity. Whereas developers make money from apps by pushing advertisements to users, online criminals may install mobile ad software development kits in their fake copies so they receive the revenue instead of the original developers, and they may insert malicious code that can result in harm to the user. 70 FIG. 4I: Example of Fake App That Extracts Account Data. 71 255.9 Source: Symantec Despite efforts to screen for potential infringing apps, 72 consumers continue to have access to illicit apps. This is in part because when an illicit app is taken down, a new one often takes its place, app developers find new avenues to distribute the app, or existing downloads are Source: Statista 64 not necessarily disabled. 73 213.9 SECTION 2 73
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U.S. JOINT STRATEGIC PLAN ON INTELL
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B. In Furtherance of a Healthy Doma
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PREAMBLE A Reflection on Creativity
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INTRODUCTION IP-intensive industrie
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Services, the Dep
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • Advertising B
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1 THE GLOBAL SCALE OF INTELLECTUAL
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INTRODUCTION The story of intellect
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With thanks to, an
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