TECHART SYMBOLIZES ZERO TOLERANCE FOR COUNTERFEITS

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Excellence Magazine's May issue features Germany's renowned campaign to protect consumers from unsafe knock-offs.

Germany's nationwide campaign, "Tune-it-Safe!" educates consumers on how to detect counterfeit aftermarket automotive products through promotional efforts such as advertisements, posters, on-line presentations, press releases, public relations, and events.

This cooperative effort to correct this safety risk utilizes a TECHART police patrol car, based on a Porsche Carrera S (997) as the program's symbolic vehicle.

At home, the U.S. House of Representatives completed action on the "Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act" (H.R. 32), which will provide additional domestic and international means to destroy counterfeit products.

The legislation will strengthen U.S. trademark law by making mandatory the seizure and destruction of counterfeit goods, as well as the equipment, tooling, packaging and machinery used to produce the phony goods.

It would also clarify that it is illegal for counterfeiters to sell counterfeit versions of the trademarks themselves on labels, patches and medallions, for use by others who affix them to counterfeit products.

Counterfeit automobile parts may cost the auto parts industry $12 billion dollars annually. It is estimated that if these losses were eliminated, and those sales were brought into legitimate companies, the automotive industry could hire 200,000 additional workers.