Industry committee  I'm satisfied. The review that I did was with respect to the administrative regime. I believe that's the section that's missing from our bill and would help alleviate the demand on CBSA and the rights holder, making it possible to destroy the goods on an expedited basis.

Industry committee  Very briefly, I would argue that right now the U.S. government is doing our job for us, and the reason I say that is because I received several seizure notices with respect to U.S. seizures of items that are destined for Canada. The reason I get the notice is because they want fo

Industry committee  I'm happy to address it once again. What I can tell you is that once there are counterfeit goods that have been identified, a seizure notice goes out to the importer—whether it's anonymous information or real information—and to the rights holder, that there is suspected counterf

Industry committee  Mr. de Beer has referenced copyright actions, and I will remind everyone today that I am here on behalf of the International Trademark Association. I'll repeat that this issue is not being addressed under the current bill. Grey market goods are currently legal in Canada and this

Industry committee  I can tell you very briefly that the rights holders have also amended the way they deal with things as a result of these budget cuts. There are several rights holders, including Mr. Ptycia, who have chosen to train customs officials and RCMP officers via the web. It's a one-hour

Industry committee  I can tell you that counterfeiters today are getting very sophisticated. The current business model that's being used by these counterfeiters is to enter into a retail store and put very few items per brand out on display. They do that because the rights holders have an interest

Industry committee  Sorry—say that again.

Industry committee  Certainly people do seek out counterfeit goods. I believe that. Having said that, how would it make you feel if you found out the person you're paying for that item doesn't pay taxes?

Industry committee  It's a very good question. I'll give you two very quick examples, as I have under a minute, I believe. We don't know what we're up against. That's the reality. You take something you might not think is harmful to you, and it ends up being of great harm. People buy counterfeit su

Industry committee  Right now, the grey market is legal, so this bill does not include grey market goods. This should be of no concern to the committee because this bill addresses counterfeit goods. There is a big difference. A grey market good is legitimate and was authorized to be manufactured by

Industry committee  Yes, I'm just going to review briefly.

Industry committee  I believe the language that's been expressed in the bill should be removed completely. At that point the bill would be silent on goods in transit. This way, if an item is seized that is counterfeit and dangerous, like electrical cords or a liquid with toxins in it, we wouldn't ju

Industry committee  I don't have the numbers on what the Department of Homeland Security has done, but it's astounding the number of shipments seized at the borders in the United States—and certainly through the administrative regime in the European Union. I'm not going to speculate, but I would say

Industry committee  It's an excellent question, and I would say no. The rights holders are able to identify whether an item is counterfeit. That's why, after an item is seized, the rights holder will be contacted and receive confirmation, whether it be by some form of affidavit, as it's currently do

Industry committee  That's an excellent question. I believe that statutory damages are an excellent deterrent. There was a great question before about whether we should be exempting items for personal use. We should be excluding all counterfeits in our country. Take just a simple example of a coun