Officers seized more than 206,000 Pokemon figurines in one month
HARRISBURG, Pa. – Just one month after seizing more than 86,000 counterfeit Pokemon action figures, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Harrisburg, Pa., seized more than 120,000 more counterfeit Pokemon action figures. If authentic, this latest seizure would have had a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of more than $840,000.
Pokemon action figures.
This seizure consisted of 20 boxes in three shipments that arrived from Hong Kong May 18-26. Officers inspected the shipment and observed 120,480 small Pokemon action figures. Officers then confirmed with the trademark holder that the figurines were counterfeit. Officers seized the cache Wednesday. The shipments were destined to an address in Snyder County, Pa.
The figurines are small and pose a potential choking hazard to children. Additionally, counterfeit toys tend to be coated in excessive levels of lead paint. No lead testing was conducted on these toys.
“The Pokemon slogan is ‘Gotta catch ‘em all’’ and Customs and Border Protection officers are trying to do just that to these counterfeit and potentially dangerous toys,” said Casey Durst, CBP’s Director of Field Operations in Baltimore. “CBP officers remain steadfast in our commitment to intercepting counterfeit products, especially those products that could seriously harm American consumers.”
On May 13, CBP officers seized the previous shipment of 86,400 Pokemon action figures. If authentic, those figurines would have had a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of more than $600,000.
CBP protects businesses and consumers every day through an aggressive Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforcement program. Importation of counterfeit merchandise can cause significant revenue loss, damage the U.S. economy, and threaten the health and safety of the American people.
figures in one month worth $1.4 million MSRP.
On a typical day in 2019, CBP officers seized $4.3 million worth of products with Intellectual Property Rights violations. Learn more about what CBP did during "A Typical Day" in 2019.
CBP officers and Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) agents seized 27,599 shipments containing counterfeit goods in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. The total estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of the seized goods, had they been genuine, would be $1.5 billion.
E- Commerce sales have contributed to large volumes of low-value packages imported into the United States. In FY 2019, there were 144 million express shipments and 463 million international mail shipments. Over 90 percent of all intellectual property seizures occur in the international mail and express environments
The People’s Republic of China (mainland China and Hong Kong) remained the primary source economy for seized counterfeit and pirated goods, accounting for 83 percent of all IPR seizures and 92 percent of the estimated MSRP value of all IPR seizures.
Read CBP’s Intellectual Property Seizure Report for Fiscal Year 2019 for more IPR stats and analysis.
CBP's border security mission is led at ports of entry by CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations. Please visit CBP Ports of Entry to learn more about how CBP’s Office of Field Operations secures our nation’s borders.