“5小時能量”飲料制造商搗毀大型制假網絡

????公司調查人員在圣地亞哥發現了用于生產假冒飲料的配料，假冒飲料在這里被裝到仿造的瓶子中，經過包裝后運往美國各地。調查人員認為，所有配料均從墨西哥進口。

????而針對零售店的一系列調查和文件沒收工作早在搜查工廠之前便已開始。搜查的對象包括CVS藥店、瓦萊羅（Valero）加油站和7-11便利店等，同時還在調查這些零售店的供應鏈，直到查出假冒產品的源頭。上個月，來自科洛爾公司（Kroll, Inc.）的近100名外圍調查人員攜帶授權進行搜查和扣押文件資料、電腦、非法生產設備和假冒產品的秘密傳票，從零售網點入手，向上追查其中間人、批發倉庫，直至供應網絡的源頭——造假窩點。調查發現，假冒產品銷往美國大多數州，涉及加利福尼亞、佛羅里達、伊利諾伊、密歇根、紐約、賓夕法尼亞和德克薩斯等州的批發經銷商。

????在當地執法人員配合下，調查人員鎖定并搜查了圣地亞哥的生產設施，結果那里已經空無一人。但調查人員根據遺留的資料，順藤摸瓜，找出了這家工廠的幕后老板。

????法庭文件表示，正品“5小時能量”僅在印第安納州沃巴什的兩家工廠生產。

????波特稱，在加州和密歇根州設有營銷點的人應該是幕后黑手。搜查中查獲的資料顯示，造假活動可能已經持續了至少兩年。Living Essentials公司針對侵犯商標權和其他民事權利提起了檢舉指控，并要求獲得2,500萬美元的損失賠償，以及全部利潤損失的賠償。最終，數十位被告人可能需要承擔數百萬美元賠償。據稱，假冒產品批發價為每瓶1.25至1.75美元。

????此次搜查源于九月底的一條線索。當時，公司從一位獨立推銷員處了解到，他從一位中間人那里得到的產品，似乎不符合標準，甚至可能存在缺陷。通過對這些產品的樣本進行檢驗，Living Essentials發現，這批產品全部系假冒。檢驗結果顯示，其中并不包含獲得授權的配料，顏色也不是正品的淡粉紅色，而且聞起來也很奇怪。曾經購買過這批產品的其他消費者也投訴稱，他們從那些飲料里根本“得不到任何能量”。

????據法庭文件顯示，正品與假冒產品的區別包括，正品飲料的維生素B-12含量為每日推薦最低攝入量的8,333%，不含糖，所含咖啡因約等于一杯12盎司咖啡所含的量。而假冒產品中含有糖，不含維生素B-12，咖啡因含量也各不相同，而且顏色與正品存在差異。雖然假冒產品的包裝按照正品包裝進行了仿造，但不同于正品，在部分仿造的塑料包裝瓶頂部，并沒有淺的凹槽。

????There, the company's investigators found ingredients used to make the fake drinks, which were put into counterfeit bottles and packages for shipment around the country. Investigators believe the ingredients were imported from Mexico.

????That raid followed a series of investigations and document seizures that began in retail stores, including CVS drug stores, Valero (VLO) gasoline stations and 7-Eleven shops, and traced their supply chains back to the source of the fake products. In the last month, nearly 100 outside investigators from Kroll, Inc., armed with secret subpoenas authorizing raids to seize documents, computers, illegal manufacturing equipment and counterfeit products, had fanned across the country to trace the supply lines back from retail outlets through middlemen to wholesale warehouses and to the manufacturing facility. They found the product in a majority of the states and at wholesale distributors in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.

????Accompanied by local law enforcement authorities, the investigators located and raided the manufacturing facility in San Diego, which was unmanned, but contained records leading the investigators to the alleged bosses of the operation.

????The court documents say that genuine 5-Hour Energy is made only at two plants in Wabash, Ind.

????Potter says that people with distribution operations in California and Michigan are believed to be the masterminds of the scheme. Records seized in the raids show the counterfeiting may have been going on for at least two years. The complaints, charging violations of trademarks and other civil violations, ask for $25 million in damages and recovery of all lost profits, which could be millions of dollars more from dozens of defendants. The fake products allegedly were being sold wholesale for $1.25 to $1.75 a bottle.

????The hunt was triggered in late September when the company learned from an independent salesman that he had obtained products from a broker that appeared to be substandard and possibly defective. By examining those product samples, Living Essentials discovered they were counterfeit -- they did not consist of the authorized ingredients, were not the pale pink color of the real products and smelled funny, the filings show. Other customers who had bought fakes also had complained they were getting "no energy" from the drinks they had bought.

????Among the differences, according to court documents, the real drink contains 8,333% of the minimum Recommended Daily Intake of vitamin B-12, no sugar, and caffeine roughly equal to the amount in a 12-ounce cup of coffee. The counterfeits had sugar, no B-12, varying amounts of caffeine, and were different colors. While the packaging of the counterfeits closely resembled the real products, some bottles did not contain a dimple on the top of the plastic bottle, which is left by the manufacturing process for the real product.