In its fourteen-year history, the ISC has accomplished a great deal in combating counterfeiting and fraud and has established itself as an international force in the Imaging Supplies Industry as well as a leading organization in Intellectual Property protection.
Since its inception this unique program has removed hundreds of thousands of illegal products from commerce. It has also led the members companies to the source of the products and has resulted in both civil and criminal prosecution in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, Canada, Australia, and Asia. The ISC has seen a steady, marked increase in the use of this program by a record number of distributors resulting in record numbers of counterfeit products identified and removal of these products from the marketplace saving the manufacturers millions of dollars in lost revenue and profits and damage to their brands.
Program to date more than 10% of all submissions have been verified as counterfeit. Eleven different imaging supplies manufacturers' brands' have been found counterfeited. During the life of the program raids and seizures have been were conducted on six continents. Today the program continues to yield results with 10 incidents of counterfeiting uncovered through October, 2007.
The ISC has published over 250 articles on counterfeiting and telemarketing fraud in all of the major industry publications and general print media. Member representatives have met with the press in the U.S., Australia, Europe, South America, and Asia resulting in a number of articles on these continents. The ISC has sponsored two public service ads aimed at educating, consumers, resellers, manufacturers, remanufacturers and all industry stakeholders on how to spot, prevent and report counterfeiting and fraud.
The United States Customs Service selected the imaging supplies industry as one of three industries for special emphasis in fiscal 1999. As a result of the A Special Enforcement Project@, many member companies have recorded their marks for the first time in the U.S. and certain other countries. This has resulted in Customs interventions and has identified illegal products in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Germany, China and Malaysia.
The ISC President has served as a member of the U.S. Customs Strategic Advisory Council and in July of 2002 exhibited counterfeit imaging supplies at the inaugural conference hosted by the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, a joint US Customs, FBI organization.
The ISC and its member companies participated regularly in customs training sessions in the US and Latin America educating customs officials on methods of identifying counterfeit imaging supplies.
The ISC has held eleven International Conferences on Fraud and Counterfeiting in the Imaging Supplies Industry. Each conference the number of participants has increased. The 2006 conference had 80 participants from four continents. Conference evaluations were outstanding. Participants included brand owners, law firms, investigators, security solution providers, government officials, consultants and press. The next conference is scheduled for August 17,18 and 19 2008 at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
The ISC has made presentations at most of the major international industry conferences including: Business Products Industry Association, Business Technology Association, CAP Ventures U.S. and Japan, COMDEX, CeBIT, LYRA, ITC, ITEX, Asian Imaging Forum and many national and international dealer conferences.
Outside the industry, presentations have been made at conferences sponsored by the International Chamber of Commerce, Reconnaissance International, the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition, PIRA, PISEC, and the American Society for Industrial Security and the National Intellectual Property Law Institute.The ISC was named a Partner in Consumer Education by the Federal Trade Commission and a A Partner in Education by the Business Technology Association (BTA). Working with the Federal Trade Commission, Better Business Bureau and BTA the ISC has developed and implemented a closed loop process for incident reporting and an end-user education package on avoiding telemarketing scams. In March of 2000, ISC President, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business regarding the impact of telemarketing fraud on American business and what the OEM's and the ISC along with various government agencies are doing to combat this illegal activity. In November of 2001, the ISC presented at the Telemarketing Fraud Public Workshop sponsored by the FTC. In 2002, the ISC developed and is offering a print media and web ad targeted at educating various constituents of the industry and its customers in support of the FTC's Project BOSS (Banish Office Supplies Scams).
The ISC testified in support of IACC initiated legislation and was recognized as a significant contributor to the passage of The Anticounterfeiting Consumer Protection Act of 1996 by the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition (IACC). The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) presented the ISC with it's A Golden Shoe String award for excellence in communications on a very limited budget. In January of 1999, the Coalition was recognized with a A Global Anticounterfeiting Award by Authentication News for An Outstanding Achievement by an Association. Also in 1999 the Coalition was elected to the Association Advance America Honor Roll for two of its programs; When in Doubt... Check it Out and Anti-telemarketing Fraud Process and Education. The awards are for outstanding programs, which have resulted in a significant benefit to American Society.
In 2002, a member company, Xerox, was awarded a "Global Anticounterfeiting Award for outstanding achievement by a company."
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