A Systematic Analysis of Product Counterfeiting Schemes, Offenders, and Victims, 43 states and 42 countries, 2000-2015 (ICPSR 37177)

Version Date: May 28, 2019

Principal Investigator(s):
Brandon A. Sullivan, Indiana University Southeast

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37177.v1

Version V1 ()

  • V2 [2021-07-07]
  • V1 [2019-05-28] unpublished

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Summary

These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.

Product counterfeiting is the fraudulent reproduction of trademark, copyright, or other intellectual property related to tangible products without the authorization of the producer and motivated by the desire for profit. This study create a Product Counterfeiting Database (PCD) by assessing multiple units of analysis associated with counterfeiting crimes from 2000-2015: (1) scheme; (2) offender (individual); (3) offender (business); (4) victim (consumer); and (5) victim (trademark owner). Unique identification numbers link records for each unit of analysis in a relational database.

The collection contains 5 Stata files and 1 Excel spreadsheet file.

  • Scheme-Data.dta (n=196, 35 variables)
  • Offender-Individual-Data.dta (n=551, 16 variables)
  • Offender-Business-Data.dta (n=310, 5 variables)
  • Victim-Consumer-Data.dta (n=54, 8 variables)
  • Victim-Trademark-Owner-Data.dta (n=146, 5 variables)
  • Relational-Data.xlsx (4 spreadsheet tabs)

Citation

Sullivan, Brandon A. A Systematic Analysis of Product Counterfeiting Schemes, Offenders, and Victims, 43 states and 42 countries, 2000-2015. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-05-28. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37177.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (2016-R2-CX-0052)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

North Carolina   Indiana   England   Utah   Bahamas   Greece   South Korea   Latvia   Panama   Arizona   Montana   Japan   Kentucky   Belize   California   Kansas   Florida   India   Pennsylvania   New Zealand   Canada   Iowa   Turkey   Belgium   Illinois   Texas   Taiwan   Connecticut   Finland   South Africa   Italy   Georgia   Virginia   Maryland   Germany   Idaho   Oregon   Puerto Rico   Hong Kong   United States   Oklahoma   Tennessee   China (Peoples Republic)   Alabama   Thailand   South Carolina   Washington   Russia   Nebraska   Costa Rica   Saudi Arabia   West Virginia   Netherlands   Sweden   Pakistan   Massachusetts   Colorado   Ireland   Missouri   Kuwait   France   Jordan   North Dakota   Wisconsin   Nevada   Rhode Island   South Dakota   United Kingdom   Minnesota   New York (state)   Switzerland   New Jersey   Michigan   Spain   Palestine   Lebanon   Cuba   Venezuela   New Mexico   New Hampshire   Louisiana   Mexico   Ohio   Israel   Australia

Smallest Geographic Unit

State

Restrictions

Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reason for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2000-01-01 -- 2015-12-31

Date of Collection

2017-01-01 -- 2018-12-31

Data Collection Notes

  1. These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.

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Study Purpose

This study developed a Product Counterfeiting Database (PCD) as a source of data on product counterfeiting schemes, offenders, and victims assembled from open source information.

Study Design

Schemes were coded in the Product Counterfeiting Database (PCD) and had to meet specific inclusion criteria.

  1. First, the scheme involved illegal activities related to counterfeiting of trademarked physical goods and/or packaging.
  2. Second, the scheme was carried out in identifiable locations during a specified time period (as opposed to a vague allegation). Schemes are typically committed over a prolonged period of time and involve multiple locations inside and often outside U.S. borders.
  3. Third, the scheme (or any portion of it) was committed in the U.S. and led to a criminal indictment in a U.S. court between 2000 and 2015.

Scheme-Data.dta

Schemes, the main unit of analysis, represent the overall operation of the crime and components to carry it out. Schemes are characterized by specific offenders (i.e., individuals and businesses), criminal activities and techniques, objectives, locations, time periods, and victims (i.e., consumers and owners).

Offender-Individual-Data.dta

An individual offender is anyone who was indicted in a U.S. court for their participation in activities related to, or in furtherance of a product counterfeiting scheme meeting the Product Counterfeiting Database (PCD) inclusion criteria. Individual offenders fulfilled a wide array of different roles, including production, import from foreign suppliers, distribution, warehousing/storage, tampering, repackaging, relabeling, theft (for resale), direct sale to consumers (including usage of counterfeit drugs on patients) and support roles such as bookkeeping and laundering money, among others.

Offender-Business-Data.dta

Business offenders simply needed to be involved in the commission of the scheme and not necessarily indicted to be included. A business offender was a legally recognized business organization which was 1) designated to provide goods/services to customers; 2) owned/operated by at least one offender (indicted or unindicted co-conspirator) involved in the scheme; and 3) had some role in the preparation or execution of the scheme.

Victim-Consumer-Data.dta

Individual consumer victims are defined as individual consumers directly harmed as a result of a product counterfeiting crime scheme.

Victim-Trademark-Owner-Data.dta

Trademark owning victims are defined as those trademark owners directly harmed as a result of a product counterfeiting crime scheme. Losses include monetary, damage to brand reputations, loss of customers and contracts, and costs of brand protection, litigation, and enforcement.

Relational-Data.xlsx

The relational data details how files (and variables) are associated or related to each other.

Sample

Not applicable

Time Method

Longitudinal: Cohort / Event-based

Universe

Product counterfeiting crime schemes, offenders, and victims where an individual offender was indicted in a United States court.

Unit(s) of Observation

Counterfeiting schemes

Data Type(s)

Description of Variables

Data file: Scheme-Data.dta (n=196, vars=35)

Researchers gathered public information on attributes of counterfeiting schemes, including industry involved, length of scheme in years, number and type of victims, amount of illicit revenue generated from scheme, countries outside the U.S. linked to scheme, and several variables related to indictments, convictions, incarcerations and attributes of the investigations.

Data file: Offender-Individual-Data.dta (n=551, vars=16)

Researchers gathered information on individual offenders including age during scheme, sex, race/ethnicity, citizenship status, conviction and incarceration, sentencing, and deportation/fugitive status.

Data file: Offender-Business-Data.dta (n=310, vars=5)

Researchers collected public data on whether the business was a shell company, whether the business was owned/operated by the indicted individual offender, and whether the business itself was indicted or convicted for involvement in the scheme.

Data file: Victim-Consumer-Data.dta (n=54, vars=8)

Researchers collected public data on the victim's age, sex, race/ethnicity, citizenship status, the type of counterfeit product that victimized the consumer, whether the victim was physically harmed by the scheme, and if the victim had an interpersonal relationship with the offender.

Data file: Victim-Trademark-Owner-Data.dta (n=146, vars=5)

Researchers collected public data on the number of schemes that victimized the trademark owner, the type of industry, whether the trademark owner was a multinational business, and the estimated monetary losses to the trademark owner.

Data file: Relational-Data.xlsx

Researchers created four tabs, one each for Offender-Individual-Data, Offender-Business-Data, Victim-Consumer-Data, and Victim-Trademark-Owner-Data listing the locations of each scheme (the United States and 42 foreign countries). The tabs also contain references to relationships between the ID variables for each of the four datasets.

Response Rates

Not applicable

Presence of Common Scales

Not applicable

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Original Release Date

2019-05-28

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Weight

Not applicable

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