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.
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.
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.
On a typical day in 2019, CBP officers seized $4.3 million worth of products with Intellectual Property Rights violations.
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.
