While the U.S. House of Representatives continues to consider the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which would authorize new tools to crack down on piracy and counterfeiting on foreign websites, this week the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a new report identifying the most notorious online pirates and counterfeiters based outside the U.S.

According to the report, “Globally copyright piracy on a commercial scale and trademark counterfeiting continue to thrive, in part because of the presence of marketplaces that deal in goods and services that infringe intellectual property rights.” The U.S.T.R. not only listed the most aggregious sites, but also gave credit to previously-listed sites which have cleaned up their act.

For a copy of the report, click here.

Brothers Gavin (age 15) and Grayson (age 11) run a website for the fun of being able to show the world their Lego® creations. They even post a disclaimer on their site, located at http://legoworkshop.com:

We are NOT affiliated in any way with LEGO. All LEGO marks are trademarks of the LEGO Group.

That didn’t stop LEGO Juris A/S, owner of the Lego brand, from trying wrest the boys’ site away from them.

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In Firehouse Restaurant Group, Inc. v. Scurmont LLC, Civil Action No. 4:09-cv-00618-RBH (D.S.C. Oct. 17, 2011), Firehouse Restaurant sued Scurmont, dba Calli Baker’s Firehouse Bar & Grille, for, among other things, infringement of Firehouse Restaurant’s registered FIREHOUSE mark. But the jury held, and the court affirmed, that Firehouse Restaurant had procured its trademark fraudulently and, more to the point, that fraud formed a valid defense to its allegations of trademark infringement.

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Cease-and-desist letters remain an effective tool for stopping trademark infringement without the expense of litigation. However, “bullying” smaller competitors with far-fetched infringement allegations may land yourself and/or your company in a social media nightmare. Individuals and organizations on the receiving end of cease-and-desist letters are increasingly utilizing internet sensations like Facebook,™ Twitter,™ and YouTube™ to launch “shaming” campaigns against their accusers.

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