I just realized that some of my anime posters are probably counterfeit.
I understand that items can be seized in transit if CBP finds them to be fake.
Are these items legal to own? I have no intention to sell them.
The counterfeit version of the comic book “Cerebus the Aardvark” (number one) was so good, that, ironically, collectors treasure it. It’s traded for eagerly.
(The droll part is that there, then, followed counterfeit versions of the counterfeit version.)
So, suppose you had a fake Rolex watch – it says “Rolex” on it in fancy engraving. It’s your property: who has the right to take it from you by force? It’s not like receiving stolen property: there are ways to recover stolen goods. Rolex can get fussy if you try to sell it, but how would they ever get a court-order to seize it?
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Importing across nations borders is considered by the common law to be manufacture, so you can be said to be manufacturing the fake when taking it international ?
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proceeds of crime… can be confiscated , but if you are the suspected victim, its not a proceeds of crime.
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but also they can confiscate evidence, or for public safety. or to prevent a crime (eg you selling it as a true brand name)
Really there’s little chance of it being confiscated unless you attract suspicions somehow. Don’t wear it on international flights.
It might even vary by state. In Ohio, there are things that you cannot “… Recklessly sell, lend, give, or furnish…” but are not in and of themselves illegal to possess. However, you cannot possess it with the intent of yadda yadda.
I once had an old can of sperm whale oil, which I bought legally back in the 1960s. It was the hot ticket for lubricating patches for muzzle loading rifles. I came across it years later and figuring it might have some value, I placed it on eBay. eBay immediately hurled a shit storm of regulations at me.
Unlike the Antiquities Act, which allows you to possess, sell and purchase old ivory, pre-Columbian relics, etc, that were legally purchased prior to the act, the whale oil violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973. I found in short order that I could possess it, but could not transfer it in any way. I could donate it to an approved agency for research purposes or dispose of it.
Dennis
I expect that the fancy engraving “Rolex” is copyrighted/trademarked. Possibly Rolex could demand that you remove that/engrave a line crossing it out/etc? But I doubt that they would bother.
As can be seen from the examples above, it depends on the item.
But in general, for the kind of thing you are talking about, it is TECHNICALLY illegal to possess anything that someone broke the law to provide to you. The thing is, most things, including your posters, aren’t likely to get you noticed or prosecuted.
That doesn’t sound quite right to me; can you give a citation for that? Surely it depends substantially on the particular statute that the provider violated and whether the possessor knew about (or reasonably should have suspected) the illegal activity.
For instance, I’m fairly sure that at least at one point in NY state, it was illegal to provide alcohol to an underage minor, but it was not actually illegal for the minor to possess the alcohol (a loophole which I believe was later closed).
Or, for simple theft, in Massachusetts (like I’m sure most states), the crime of Receiving Stolen Property requires knowledge that the property was stolen
[QUOTE=Mass General Laws Chapter 266 Section 60]
Whoever buys, receives or aids in the concealment of stolen or embezzled property, knowing it to have been stolen …
[/QUOTE]
If you buy something stolen, without knowing it was stolen, there is no crime in the buying or possessing.
The difference between a counterfeit and a replica is in the buyers knowledge and/or a sellers advertising. There are big exceptions when IP (copyright, trademark, etc.) is involved.
It depends what you mean by “illegal.” If you mean are you criminally culpable for owning counterfeited goods, the answer is no. If you mean is it civilly actionable, the answer is “it depends.”
AFAIK, this is the case in most places. The caveat is that once officials know you possess it, it will be confiscated from you with no compensation and returned to the original owner. The onus will be on you to try to get your money back from whomever you bought it from.
Counterfeit goods, OTOH, unless otherwise prohibited, are yours to keep unless you later try to sell them as originals.
Since you mentioned that they are anime posters:
[ul]
[li]The conventions I know will strictly forbid them from dealers’ rooms. [/li][li]I suspect no authority will know them from the real thing, so you’re safe travelling.[/li][/ul]
However, I’d be more concerned about travelling with anime posters that might be interpreted as pornography, especially child pornography. Border guards have seized manga and other related materials on those grounds.
In France there are signs everywhere (like this one) that state that “In France, buying or carrying a counterfeit product is a criminal offence punishable by up to three years imprisonment and and a £300,000 fine.”
However, I have no idea if the law takes into account the state of mind of the buyer or not. I doubt it would be good for tourism if they arrested a foreigner and threw them in jail, despite them consistently playing dumb and claiming to believe the item was genuine. I can’t find any news stories about this happening. I’ve read anecdotes about fake bags being confiscated at customs but no fines or jail time. I can’t read French so I didn’t get very far researching this myself.
I’m no legal expert, but what I’ve read or heard in many places before, matches what I found in Wikipedia: Possession of stolen goods - Wikipedia
Essentially, it says that it is not legal for you to continue to own stolen property after you learn that it was stolen. In many places, there isn’t a CRIMINAL PENALTY involved with just possessing things you didn’t know were stolen at the time you received them, however, you still don’t have the right to retain the stolen property. I don’t have any direct cites, but I have seen many instances where people were found to have stolen items in their homes or cars, and although they were not penalized and didn’t get prosecuted for any crimes, they were still required to give the property back to the actual owner. And that included things like copyright concerns. In some cases, I remember that people were ordered to destroy all copies of the stolen intellectual property that they had.
Again, if no one ever finds out, or if the owner doesn't want to go after you in any way, then you might get away with it, but technically, the fact that what you have was stolen, means that it doesn't belong to you.