The weather in Miami leading up to this weekend’s Super Bowl has been erratic to say the least.  And while I’m no meteorologist, there’s one prediction I can make with confidence: one team will come out on top and thousands of vendors will be hawking counterfeit NFL merchandise to football fans in Miami, across the country, and around the world via the Internet.

As the epitome of American sports culture, the Super Bowl game is expected to attract the attention of over 100 million viewers across the globe. Many viewers will be tuning-in for one of the most anticipated games in recent memory, while others will be waiting for the breaks in the game to see what creative ads are thrown their way.  But let’s not forget that the allure of the Super Bowl game, and the fans that both teams draw, also attracts counterfeiters looking to make a quick buck (or a quick million) off of unsuspecting consumers.

NFL licensed merchandise—such as men’s jerseys—can sell for anywhere from $80 on up.  Thus, a price tag of half that much for a seemingly flawless replication seems like a steal for any fan—which is exactly what it is. Each year, as counterfeit vendors make their way to the playoff games to hawk NFL merchandise, the problem of fakes not only gets worse, it gets more sophisticated. Counterfeit jerseys, caps, and other paraphernalia are often mixed in with the real ones, and even the merchant may not know they're selling a fake. A closer look at some merchandise and the subtle discrepancies should become clear: the color is off, the stitching is sloppy, or sometimes players’ names are misspelled.

Counterfeiting costs U.S. businesses hundreds of millions in lost sales each year.  Indeed, the Customs and Border Protection service last year seized 14,841 shipments of counterfeit goods with a domestic value of $260.7 million---and this is only the stuff they caught!  All of this counterfeiting leads to job losses ranging from the workers who make the products, to those that package, market, distribute, and sell them.  The NFL and its franchises are surely affected as well, especially given the League’s popularity with the American people. 

And in today’s Internet era, sales of counterfeit goods are not just happening on street corners, back alley stores, or outside stadiums, it is occurring in increasingly higher numbers online, and in ways that fool consumers into thinking these goods are the real thing.

In 2009, intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement operations at Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Florida, led to many arrests and seizures of counterfeit merchandise. Federal agents joined the Tampa Police Department, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and the NFL to work together in the operation leading up to the big event. According to the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement this collaborative effort led to the seizure of more than 15,000 pieces of counterfeit merchandise with a retail value of almost $2 million.  Similar efforts this year have already resulted in seizure of 1,600 items—valued at $155,000—of fake Super Bowl-related memorabilia, along with other counterfeit items.

Counterfeiting has a much greater cost than just lost merchandise sales. Intellectual property theft—through counterfeiting—is NOT a victimless crime. Not only do these crimes eat away at our economy with job losses, but those involved in these crimes are often directly linked to organized crime in one way or another.

Although the U.S. government has made tremendous progress over the past couple years to address the worsening crime of counterfeiting, there are number of additional steps the Congress and the Obama Administration can take to substantively improve our IP protections efforts.  Domestically, the newly confirmed Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) will play a critical role in creating and implementing a comprehensive national IP strategy to promote and protect IP. 

Counterfeiting is a serious global problem that costs tens of thousands of American jobs each year, and eats away at our economic growth and vibrancy.  The only way to fight back is through stringent enforcement and consumer awareness.  So as we watch the game on Sunday, there will be a lot of activity going on behind the scenes that you’ll never see on instant replay. The cracking down on counterfeiting is just one step in stopping this illegal activity. Increased vigilance from law enforcement all the way to Congress and the White House is needed if we are to deal a serious blow to this detriment to our economy. And lastly, if you’re at the game this weekend or online in the coming weeks, and the price of that NFL cap or jersey seems too good to be true, it’s probably a fake; please don’t buy it, somebody’s job may depend on it.