Congress introduced a bipartisan bill to crack down on websites selling counterfeit goods and practicing online piracy.
Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) co-sponsored the bill, which is slated for a mark-up on Thursday. According to its terms, if passed, the bill would allow the Department of Justice leeway to crack down swiftly on counterfeit-commerce websites by giving officials authority to file civil action against repeat-offender domains and to "go after" their operators, according to WWD.
While a fake bag here and there doesn't seem like much, in reality, the counterfeiting industry accounts for a loss of roughly $250 million and 750,000 jobs, reports the AntiCounterfeiting Coalition.
