IACC Year in Review 2018
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC), I’m pleased to share our continued successes in 2018 through our Annual Year in Review.
From the White House to Vatican City, to Dubai and Beijing, the IACC is the leading voice in the fight against fakes. Standing on our pillars of strength Ð “Engagement, Enforcement, and Education,” the IACC has achieved unparalleled success in 2018.
We have expanded our engagement and enforcement efforts with Alibaba and Amazon yielding tremendous results for brands participating in those respective programs. We have strengthened our law enforcement alliances with INTERPOL, EUROPOL, Guardia di Finanza, Carabinieri, Met Police, City of London Police, Dubai Police, Dubai Customs, Spanish National Police, French Customs, HSI, FBI, and CBP. We have broadened our global reach in the financial sector with our “Follow the Money” approach through the RogueBlock program working diligently with our long-time partners at Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, American Express, Discover, Western Union and MoneyGram.
As in previous years, the IACC focused on developing partnerships with organizations that would advance our members’ brand protection efforts by leveraging the combined strengths of allied organizations such as GIPC, QBPC, Confindustria Moda, ACG, GACG, BPG, ANDEMA, ASIPI, CCBD, EURid and others, collectively bringing the fight to counterfeiters on a global scale.
The IACC’s Law Enforcement Training Program is second to none and continues to grow in leaps and bounds. Law enforcement and brand holders are attending in record numbers and continue to affirm the program’s value to their respective IP enforcement efforts.
We recently organized our largest Latin America Brand Summit in Orlando, FL, hosting close to 250 delegates from all over the world, including 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Further, we launched our Latin America training app providing essential IP enforcement tools both in Spanish and Portuguese to police and customs throughout the region.
The IACC continues to expand our footprint in China and our engagement with senior Chinese government officials. This has led to substantive follow-up meetings and delegation visits between brands and government officials. One example is the prominent role that the IACC played at the Forum on the Fight against IPR Infringement and Counterfeiting at the China International Expo in Shanghai. I was honored to participate in the opening ceremony alongside Chinese and other government officials.
Finally, our conferences drew more attendees than ever before from law enforcement around the world, brands from a wider range of industries, and service firms with innovative, cutting edge technology and practices.
We are proud of our many successes and we’re excited to build on this momentum as we begin the new year. 2019 is an incredibly important year as we celebrate our 40th anniversary. Four decades ago, some of the world’s largest and most notable companies mobilized to create the IACC. Today, we have become the world’s leading force in effective, impactful anti-counterfeiting partnerships and a voice for brands.
Over the course of the year, we will be hosting special events at our conferences and creating new material that will celebrate the organization’s past, present and future.
It has been a privilege to work with our members and many partners throughout the years. Thank you for your ongoing support and engagement. We look forward to many more years of collaboration and continued success.
View the entire 2018 Year in Review here.
Best regards,
Bob Barchiesi
President
IACC