MIAMI- As thousands of football fans gather here to celebrate Super Bowl XLI, a group of law enforcement officers have teamed up to target criminal organizations and individuals using local business establishments to smuggle, distribute and sell counterfeit Super Bowl merchandise.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the National Football League (NFL), the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have partnered to combat intellectual property rights (IPR) violations as they relate to the illicit introduction of counterfeit Super Bowl XLI merchandise into the commerce of the United States.

IPR violations involve the illegal use of trademarks, trade names and copyrights. It is estimated that the U.S. industry alone loses $200 to $250 billion to counterfeiting annually.

As the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE plays a leading role in targeting criminal organizations responsible for producing, smuggling, and distributing counterfeit products. ICE, the NFL, the MDPD and CBP are committed to protecting legitimate businesses involved in the manufacturing, importation and distribution of licensed commodities from unscrupulous counterfeiters.

In pursuit of this goal, law enforcement here is soliciting the assistance of legitimate Super Bowl sponsors, licensees, manufacturers, importers and retailers of authorized Super Bowl XLI merchandise, as well as the general public, to identify, interdict and enforce our nation's IPR laws.

Anyone with information related to counterfeit Super Bowl XLI merchandise is encouraged to contact law enforcement. Those with information may contact ICE's 24-hour toll-free hotline by dialing 1 (866) DHS-2ICE.

"Enforcing America's counterfeiting laws are about protecting the rights of those who play by the rules; it's about keeping America a global leader in intellectual property rights; it's about keeping sub-par and unsafe merchandise off our streets; and it's about trying to keep billions of dollars of illicit funds out of the hands of organized criminal groups here and abroad," said Anthony V. Mangione, acting special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Miami. "Major events such as the Super Bowl provide a great forum for us to educate the public about the hidden and often misunderstood dangers of this global criminal threat."

In fiscal year 2006, ICE special agents and CBP officers together made 14,675 seizures of counterfeit goods worth more than $155 million, which represents a 67 percent increase from the previous fiscal year. In FY 2006, ICE investigations resulted in 219 arrests, 134 indictments and 170 convictions in intellectual property rights violations.

-- ICE --