Aff statistics are prior to the passage of the INFORM Act and include non-trademark forms of counterfeiting
Matt Schruers, 2023 - President Computer & Communications Industry Association. Written Statement submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee, “Back to School with the SHOP SAFE Act: Protecting Our Families from Unsafe Online Counterfeits” Senate Hearing, 10/3, https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2023-10-03_-_testimony_-_schruers.pdf //DH
Fighting counterfeits is a shared mission and we advise Congress to regulate the retail market in its totality, including e-commerce, traditional brick-and-mortar, and small businesses, using a coherent regulatory approach that applies to everyone. However, American small businesses should not be expected to shoulder a disproportionate burden. Instead, the regulatory approach should also be proportional to the scale, and the scale of the problem is far from clear. A popular figure that is frequently invoked ($500 billion) is a four-year-old, worst-case scenario that sweeps in estimated copyright and patent infringement and precedes recent legislation, and is thus not useful for this policy discussion.
II. SHOP SAFE Is Not Needed
a. Give INFORM Time to Work
Like SHOP SAFE, INFORM aimed to reduce the sale of counterfeit, stolen, and dangerous consumer products with updated transparency requirements and verification of third-party sellers online along with contact information for consumers. INFORM was designed to help build more trust online by providing consumers additional transparency about third-party sellers online and because CCIA supports this goal we endorsed INFORM.
This law went into effect only three months ago on June 27, 2023. The recently reintroduced SHOP SAFE contains largely the same provisions that were proposed before INFORM passed. The 117th Congress simultaneously debated both bills and Congress ultimately reached consensus around INFORM, with broad cross-sectoral support from the private sector.
Advocacy for the newly reintroduced SHOP SAFE advances the same pre-INFORM figures, lacking any learnings or conclusions about the impact of INFORM. Rather than relying on outdated numbers, Congress should obtain updated information that takes into account this newly enacted and implemented law before rushing to pass new legislation that could destroy many legitimate small businesses operating online.
The best course of action is to allow INFORM time to work. We need to see and understand its impact in the real world to judge if additional legislative responses or course corrections are required.