Next Friday, May 7, the Society's monthly Mission Intangible Monthly Briefing will feature Scott Childers from the Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) who is calling for holistic supply chain vendor management, and Bob Rittereiser from Zhi Verden whose Global Trademaster™ product provides total supply chain visibility. A note this past Monday in the Wall Street Journal explains why this is so important.

On Monday U.S. Federal, state and local law enforcement officials, part of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center said they made their biggest-ever seizures of counterfeit goods this month in two operations that netted more than $240 million in a sweep of more than 30 U.S. cities. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the double-barreled operation on Monday to coincide with World Intellectual Property Day.

Commemorating a day to heighten awareness of intellectual property with arrests may not be festive, but it is appropriate. Fake goods do more than rob intellectual property owners of revenue. Fake goods raise the specter of a full range of reputation-linked issues that go beyond cash flow to create risk in areas as  diverse as ethics (international labor standards), quality, safety, security, and sustainability. The article further notes that next week, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service will begin targeting counterfeit goods that could get into the military supply chain. The U.S. General Services Administration will target fake goods in the federal civilian supply chain.

To target effectively, one needs intelligence. According to Mr. Rittereiser, Zhi Verden’s Global Trademaster™ provides that intelligence; according to Mr. Childers, having that intelligence is a necessary component for world class supply chain management.

Act on your intellectual curiosity!

If the above issues pique your interest, here are several things you can do right now:

1. Register free of charge for the next IAFS Mission Intangible Monthly Briefing set for Friday 7 May at 12h00 EDT. The conversation will feature Scott Childers from Walt Disney and Bob Rittereiser from Zhi Verden on “Process-driven reputation risk in supply chains”
2. Purchase the book, Mission: Intangible. Managing risk and reputation to create enterprise value, at the IAFS Store (or any online book retailer) 
3. Become a member of the Intangible Asset Finance Society.
4. Join our community on Linked-In.