ENFORCEMENT
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eop_ipec_jointstrategicplan_hi-res
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Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator<br />
continued enhancement and development<br />
of “best practices.” E-Commerce sites are<br />
encouraged to maintain and publish clear takedown<br />
procedures and statistics to aid rights<br />
holders, deter repeat offenders, and support<br />
meaningful and effective enforcement policies.<br />
ACTION NO. 2.20: Support advanced,<br />
technology-driven measures to curb illicit<br />
accounts. E-Commerce platforms are encouraged<br />
to adopt advanced technology measures to prevent<br />
known offenders (including terminated sellers) from<br />
opening new accounts, or jumping from platform<br />
to platform. The wide-spread adoption of a ratings<br />
system allowing the public to assess whether a<br />
seller has any history of counterfeit violations (or<br />
no transaction history at all) may prove useful in<br />
improving consumer awareness and making it more<br />
difficult for illicit actors to establish a long-term<br />
business model or client-base.<br />
ACTION NO. 2.21: Support enhanced<br />
transparency and public reporting of<br />
counterfeit incidents on e-commerce platforms.<br />
In light of the potentially criminal nature of<br />
counterfeit trade, consumers should have<br />
access to the tools needed to assess the nature<br />
and frequency of counterfeit incidents on an<br />
e-commerce platform. Specifically:<br />
ACTION NO. 2.22: Encourage development<br />
of enhanced “know your seller” programs in<br />
e-commerce channels. In order to minimize<br />
the exploitation of e-commerce platforms by<br />
entities engaged in the sale of counterfeit goods,<br />
e-commerce platforms are encouraged to assess<br />
the applicability of an appropriately tailored “know<br />
your seller” program, where, for example, sellers<br />
provide some measure of identity verification<br />
before being able to sell products via the site.<br />
Adoption of a voluntary multi-factor verification<br />
system or other mechanism to support a “trusted”<br />
seller program may curb illicit exploitation of<br />
e-commerce channels, while providing consumers<br />
additional tools in order to assess the risks<br />
associated with any particular merchant.<br />
ACTION NO. 2.23: Promote and expand<br />
U.S. law enforcement partnerships with<br />
e-commerce platforms to disrupt incidents of<br />
fraud. The Department of Homeland Security—in<br />
partnership with the FBI and law enforcement<br />
agencies in the United States and abroad, as<br />
appropriate—will continue to invest in and further<br />
develop and promote its private sector outreach<br />
programs to facilitate the sharing of information<br />
with e-commerce sites on emerging trends,<br />
criminal syndicates, and other relevant matters<br />
to improve identification and disruption of illicit<br />
trade and consumer fraud.<br />
• Enhanced transparency and public reporting<br />
of generalized and anonymized data regarding<br />
counterfeit incidents on e-commerce platforms<br />
provides an opportunity to educate consumers<br />
and assist law enforcement, consumer<br />
protection entities, policy-makers, and others<br />
to understand better the scope of the issue,<br />
while producing additional incentives to<br />
ensure continued evolution of best practices.<br />
• E-Commerce platforms are encouraged to<br />
share complete selling history records to<br />
law enforcement upon the identification of<br />
a seller suspected of being engaged in<br />
significant counterfeiting operations.<br />
• IPEC—in partnership with the FBI, the IPR<br />
Center, USPTO, USTR, and other relevant<br />
Federal agencies—will assess opportunities to<br />
support e-commerce transparency efforts.<br />
D. SUPPORT RESPONSIBLE 3D PRINTING<br />
COMMUNITIES AND BUSINESS MODELS.<br />
Additive technology, also known as 3D printing, is<br />
emerging as one of the most important transformative<br />
changes in manufacturing processes and global supply<br />
chains today. This evolving technology is offering the<br />
promise of a manufacturing environment driven by<br />
digital data. As one commentator noted, the move to<br />
3D printing may be understood as a transformation from<br />
a traditional supply chain that is hard ware-based to one<br />
that is “software-defined.” 84<br />
Unlike conventional or “subtractive” manufacturing<br />
processes—such as drilling or milling that creates a<br />
part by cutting away and removing material—additive<br />
manufacturing builds a part by fusing materials<br />
together, layer-by-layer, with heat, chemicals,<br />
adhesives, or other methods. Additive manufacturing<br />
has been employed in design and prototyping for<br />
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