Pokemon USA has announced the
startling results of anti-piracy actions taken in cooperation with Nintendo of
America to combat the production and distribution of counterfeit Pokemon trading cards, which have
resulted in the seizure and destruction of 47 million cards over the past 16
months at production facilities in China, Thailand, Singapore, Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Australia.
On March 26th authorities in
New York
raided seven stores that were selling fake Pokemon cards, seizing thousands of
products and making several arrests.
Earlier this month a raid in China netted 1.2 million counterfeit cards, while
another seizure in China made in 2007 resulted in the
destruction of 26 million illegally produced cards.
With actions such as the raids
on the New York stores, Pokemon USA is
serving notice that in addition to battling the producers of counterfeit
Pokemon TCG product, it is also taking an aggressive stance against the
sale of those products.