Counterfeit merchandise within the sports industry is
examined by Roger Thurow of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The
Coalition to Advance the Protection of Sports Logos (CAPS),
was formed in '92 as a joint effort between Collegiate
Licensing Co. and its schools, the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL and
apparel maker Starter. In using a network of investigators
across the U.S. who "prowl flea markets, investigate
suspicious shipments at customs ports and scour parking lots
before big games," CAPS raids have seized $70M worth of
counterfeit product and production equipment since the
organization's inception. But counterfeiting "is so
endemic," that CAPS and others are "far behind in the
score," as "about" $1B worth of counterfeit sports products
hit the market each year (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/24).
BULL-MARKET: In Chicago, Fred Mitchell writes "perhaps
the NBA should expand its surveillance of non-licensed
merchandise overseas." Former Chicago Tribune columnist
Dorothy Collin, who recently returned from a month in the
Baltics and Russia: "I was gone 30 days and 28 of those days
I saw someone wearing a Bulls cap or jacket. They were not
Americans. And they were not licensed NBA clothing. I was
told by our guide that the kids in Russia like the red bull
on the cap" (Fred Mitchell, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/24).
