The Congressional Trademark Caucus welcomed the Senate’s unanimous passage of its resolution designating July as “National Anti-Counterfeiting and Consumer Education and Awareness Month.” The bipartisan effort aims to drive awareness of the economic importance of trademarks and their role in protecting consumers.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is part of that committee, and shared his thoughts on the designation, “It’s to bring attention to the problems that we have from people cheating and peddling these inferior products and getting a big price for it, just like they are the real products. Because it violates our trade laws, probably our intellectual property laws, and we just want to make sure that people are aware that there are a lot of illegal substances being peddled. It’s something very sophisticated and costly and making you think that you are buying a real product for a small amount of money.”  

The resolution passed on July 18th. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley and Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) were co-chairs of this resolution, and were joined on the resolution by Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii).

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates the value of pirated consumer goods and knockoffs at $650 billion a year. To protect themselves from counterfeit goods, consumers should be savvy when purchasing goods, especially when the prices are steeply discounted.