Senator calls for tougher regs on counterfeit prom dresses

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) expressed concern that counterfeit prom dresses from China are flooding the U.S. market.

“The domestic prom and bridal dress industry is increasingly under threat from Chinese dress manufacturers and websites that sell counterfeit goods directly to U.S. consumers,” Menendez wrote in a letter sent to Lev Kubiak, director of the Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center.

{mosads}Menendez said counterfeiting of U.S.-designed and branded clothes harms the economy and is “ripping off consumers.”

“The effects of this direct-to-consumer sale of counterfeit goods negatively impacts companies, consumers, and taxpayers alike,” Menendez wrote over the weekend. “American companies that invest in the design, marketing, and manufacturing, and distribution of prom and bridal dresses are losing sales to Chinese firms that flagrantly violate U.S. law.”

Menendez asked Kubiak and the White House to focus enforcement efforts on websites distributing counterfeit goods. He added that more than 90 percent of intellectual-property-infringing products originated from Hong Kong and China last year.