BREAKING NEWS - LVMH Wins Judgment Against eBay

Luxury goods holding company LVMH, maker of luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, wins $61 million judgment against ebay for the sale of counterfeit LVMH goods on ebay's website.

Developing.....

Counterfeiting Causes Fires

From the Electrical Safety Foundation International, a blurb about the dangers of buying counterfeit electrical appliances. Not only do counterfeiters often skimp on the safety measures included in the original product design, but who could you possibly hold responsible for a fire caused by a fake product? The original manufacturer? Probably not. Fly-by-night counterfeiters? Maybe, if you can find them. But even then, do they have the resources to withstand a lawsuit?


(Hat tip: Digital Silence)

Nuclear Silver Lining?

From Russia and the art world, news of a museum curator who has found what she terms to be a foolproof method of determining whether a painting is fake. Isotopes from exploded nuclear devices wind up back in nature in traceable amounts. Paintings use plant and mineral elements that contain traces of these isotopes. Since these isotopes are only known to be found in nuclear fallout, detection provides conclusive proof that the fakes were made after 1945.

Ingenious. Read the whole thing.

High Tech Labels to Combat Counterfeiting

Underwriters Laboratories hosted the 2008 International Law Enforcement IP Crime Conference that wrapped up today, and unveiled a new labeling technology utilizing a holograph with color-shifting ink that it says will be extremely difficult to duplicate.

Counterfeit Triangle?

The triangle region overlapping the South American countries of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay is known for its unbridled capitalism, unlawfulness, and even more alarmingly, its rumored harboring of suspected terrorists. And with criminal activities afoot, counterfeiting is not usually far behind. Writing on Gadling.com, Jeremy Kressman describes this triangle as a “A vast bazaar of illegal weapons, counterfeit goods and illicit substances,” while IP Tango deduces the difficulty for IP owners to enforce their rights when law enforcement is weak in any particular area.

Check out both articles for a look at how criminal counterfeiters fill the void left by weak governments and lack of rule of law.

June 12 is World Day Against Child Labor

The Authentics Foundation
Partners with
CARE USA
Supporting the Global Launch of the
Pasty Collins Trust Fund Initiative
Advocacy Grants Program

Quality Education: Unlocking the Power Within
Liberated from Exploitation, Empowered to End Poverty

World Day Against Child Labor
12 June 2008

In observance of World Day Against Child Labor (WDACL), the Authentics Foundation is pleased to announce its partnership with CARE USA’s global launch of the Pasty Collins Trust Fund Initiative (PCTFI) Global Advocacy Grants Program (AGP) focused on increasing the educational attainment for girls marginalized by hazardous and exploitative child labor.

The Authentics Foundation recognizes CARE’s leadership and efforts in combating hazardous and exploitative children labor around the world and is pleased to be a part of this year’s WDACL observances. CARE is staging and participating in global observances in Indonesia, Tanzania, NW Balkans & Serbia, Togo, Ghana, Mali, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and the United States supporting this year’s WDACL theme “Education, the Right Response to Child Labor.”

Along with the financial support of the Authentics Foundation, CARE USA, the International Labor Organization-International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC), and its national partners are working in tandem hosting national public awareness events around the world focusing on the importance of a quality education for children engaged in hazardous and exploitative child labor, especially girls. This advocacy initiative being launched today will give a voice to girls who are hidden, often along the margins of society quietly toiling away in isolation, never having the chance to realize the promise of an education-much less ever seeing the inside of a classroom for themselves. No longer will their voices go unheard. Central to their struggle of lifting themselves out of poverty is unlocking the power within through the provisions of a quality education.

The Authentics Foundation will be funding a four-year policy and advocacy program aimed at bring about lasting change for adolescent girl child laborers. By working towards a more conducive policy environment in favor of specific policies that liberate girls trapped by hazardous and exploitative child labor and that ensure the promise of a quality education, the Authentics Foundation envisions a world free from the exploitation of children, empowering the end of global poverty. Through specific interventions targeting sustainable change will this vision become a reality for 216 million child laborers around the world.

For more information on the Authentics Foundation, please visit www.myauthentics.com and to learn more about CARE’s efforts to eliminate hazardous and exploitative child labor please visit www.care.org and do your part by making a contribution today.