National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center

As the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plays a leading role in targeting criminal organizations responsible for producing, smuggling and distributing counterfeit products. Some of these products, such as pharmaceuticals and counterfeit merchandise, are protected by Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

In many cases, the enormous profits realized from the sale of counterfeit goods are used by international organized crime groups to bankroll other criminal activities, such as the trafficking in illegal drugs, weapons and other contraband.

In recent years, counterfeiting, piracy and other IPR violations have grown in magnitude and complexity, costing U.S. businesses billions of dollars in lost revenue and often posing health and safety risks to U.S. consumers.

The growth in IPR violations has been fueled in part by the spread of enabling technology allowing for simple and low-cost duplication of copyrighted products, as well as by the rise in organized crime groups that smuggle and distribute counterfeit merchandise for profit. ICE investigations focus not only on keeping counterfeit products off U.S. streets, but also on dismantling the criminal organizations behind this activity.

ICE agents use a variety of assets and resources to combat the counterfeiting problem, including the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), the ICE Cyber Crimes Center and attaché offices overseas.

The National IPR Center, staffed with agents and analysts from ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the FBI, coordinates the U.S. government’s domestic and international law enforcement attack on IPR violations. ICE agents in the United States and abroad work closely with the ICE Cyber Crimes Center to combat the problem of piracy and related IPR violations over the Internet. Attaché offices around the globe coordinate IPR investigative efforts with host nation law enforcement.

If you have specific information concerning IPR crimes, please complete the IPR Center Complaint Referral Form.

You may also contact us by mail or telephone:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
National Intellectual Property Rights
500 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20024

Phone: 1-866-IPR-2060, or 1-866-477-2060
Fax: (202) 307-2127