Los Angeles Times - 05.03.2020

C2 THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020 WST LATIMES.COM/BUSINESS

BUSINESS BEAT

A bipartisan group of
House lawmakers urged
Amazon.com Inc. and EBay
Inc. executives to take
stronger actions against
third-party vendors who sell
fake, stolen or unsafe goods
on their shopping websites.
“Organized retail crime,
selling counterfeits and
stolen products, poses a
threat to consumers who are
unwittingly purchasing
these items,” said Rep. Jan
Schakowsky, an Illinois
Democrat, during a hearing
Wednesday before a House
Energy and Commerce sub-
committee.
“Online marketplaces
need to place safety and ac-
countability to consumers
before profit,” Schakowsky
said to a panel of consumer
advocates and technology
company executives.
Companies that com-
plain their products are be-
ing unfairly counterfeited
are up against digital
marketplaces that say they
work to combat fake mer-

chandise but have acknowl-

edged that they don’t catch

every listing.

Jeff Myers, Apple Inc.’s

senior director for intel-

lectual property, said fraud-

ulent sellers often use the

iPhone maker’s name, logo

and designs to deceive cus-

tomers and sell products

with compromised perform-

ance and safety.

EBay associate general

counsel Amber Leavitt and

Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s

vice president for customer

trust and partner support,

testified that their compa-

nies have invested in mach-

ine learning and other tools

to identify fake listings and

plan to continue to support

law enforcement in their in-

vestigations of fraudulent

sellers.

Amazon has been proac-

tively scanning its website

for vendors falsely claiming

their products will cure the

coronavirus, Mehta said.

“There is no place for false

claims or price gouging on

Amazon,” he said.

Lawmakers, President

Trump and internet compa-

nies are exploring new mea-

sures to curb the prolifera-

tion of fake goods, from air

bags to bicycles, being sold

online.

Republicans on the com-

mittee praised the Trump

administration’s policies on

counterfeit goods, while also

raising alarms about the

sheer volume of fake prod-

ucts flowing from China

into the American market-

place.

“The administration

should be commended for

their leadership,” said Rep.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a

Washington state Republi-

can. “If we don’t step up,

China will dictate the terms

and rules for the future. The

Chinese Communist Party

will win with the playbook

they’ve always used: by

undermining human rights,

stealing from our innova-

tors, and cheating and

harming Americans.”

The Department of

Homeland Security in Janu-

ary released a list of

recommendations for the

federal government and

tech companies to help stop

pirated goods from being

shipped to American con-

sumers.

The report followed an

executive order signed by

Trump last April that called

for the department to draw

up rules to combat counter-

feit trafficking.

The department recom-

mended that the Trump ad-

ministration should seek

permission to take legal ac-

tion against third-party

marketplaces that sell coun-

terfeit merchandise, better

track packages mailed from

other countries and launch a

consumer-awareness cam-

paign, among other mea-

sures.

The report also called on

technology companies to

more aggressively screen

their vendors and create re-

strictions on products that

are more likely to be

counterfeited.

White House trade advis-

or Peter Navarro told Fox

News last month that the

U.S. has a “huge problem”

with counterfeit items and

contraband coming into the

country from China, and

Amazon “is a great enabler

of counterfeiting.”

Under the first phase of a

broader trade pact signed

by China and the U.S. in Jan-

uary, China said it would im-

pose criminal penalties on

anyone caught stealing com-

mercial secrets and do more

to stop the sale of pirated

goods online.

On Monday, members of

the House Judiciary Com-

mittee introduced a biparti-

san measure that increases

liability for companies that

sell counterfeit goods that

risk consumers’ health or

safety.

The bill from Reps. Jer-

rold Nadler and Doug

Collins — the chairman and

top Republican on the

House Judiciary Commit-

tee, respectively — would

impose liability on online

sales platforms such as Am-

azon and EBay when third-

party vendors on their sites

sell dangerous counterfeit

products.

Crackdown by Amazon, EBay sought

Lawmakers ask the

online sellers to be

more diligent in their

efforts to identify

counterfeit products.

bloomberg

AMAZONhas been proactively scanning its website for vendors falsely claiming their products will cure the

coronavirus. Above, packages are labeled at an Amazon fulfillment center in Kent, Wash., in 2018.

Grant HindsleyAFP via Getty Images

The week before its top
leaders testify on Capitol
Hill, Wells Fargo & Co. an-
nounced two new bank ac-
counts with limited fees for
consumers and said it will
boost the minimum wage it
pays employees in most U.S.
locations.
A check-less account
with no overdraft fees, as
well as one that includes
checks and limits overdraft
fees to one a month, will be
available by early next year,
the San Francisco bank
said.
The bank’s chief execu-
tive, Charlie Scharf, is set to
testify in front of the House
Financial Services Commit-
tee on Tuesday. Wells Fargo
Chairwoman Betsy Duke
and board member James
Quigley will appear for their
own hearing the following
day.
“This is something that
we’ve really been working on
for quite some time,” Ed
Kadletz, who leads Wells
Fargo’s deposit products
group, said in an interview.
“Charlie has brought an en-

ergy and a focus to the com-

pany to really get after the

things that are most impor-

tant, and so this has been

able to bubble to the top.”

The check-less bank ac-

count with no overdraft fees

will cost $5 a month, while

the account with limited

overdraft charges will cost

$10 a month. Wells Fargo said

Tuesday that it will reach

out to existing customers to

educate them about the no-

overdraft-fee account once it

becomes available.

The minimum-wage

change, meanwhile, will in-

crease pay for more than

20,000 workers, the bank

said Wednesday. The bot-

tom wage will range from $15

to $20 an hour, depending on

location.

Employees in San Fran-

cisco and New York will get

minimum hourly pay of $20,

while those in Charlotte,

N.C., and Des Moines, Iowa,

will receive at least $16 an

hour, the bank said.

Wells Fargo has vowed to

earn back public trust after a

series of consumer scandals

that began with the revela-

tion — first reported by the

Los Angeles Times — that to

hit sales goals, branch em-

ployees opened millions of

accounts in customers’

names without those cus-

tomers’ knowledge or con-

sent.

Wells to lift its

minimum wage

Bank also announces

two new accounts

with limited fees.

bloomberg

The release of “No Time

to Die,” Daniel Craig’s final

James Bond movie, has been

delayed until November as

the novel coronavirus con-

tinues to take its toll on the

global box office.

“MGM, Universal and

Bond producers, Michael G.

Wilson and Barbara Broc-

coli, announced today that

after careful consideration

and thorough evaluation of

the global theatrical

marketplace, the release of

‘No Time to Die’ will be post-

poned until November

2020,” the franchise an-

nounced in a statement

Wednesday.

It’s the second release de-

lay for the film, after a deci-

sion was made in February

2019 to scoot it from Valen-

tine’s Day 2020 to April 10.

Now it will come out Nov. 25

in the U.S. — the day before

Thanksgiving — after a Nov.

12 premiere in the U.K.

The global box office has

been hurt badly in recent

weeks as the coronavirus de-

ters filmgoers around the

world. In mainland China,

one of the largest film mar-

kets that represents 20% of

global box office, theaters

accounting for 70,000

screens have been almost

entirely shut down for

weeks.

The economics-based

decision will not affect other

MGM release dates. “No

Time to Die” stars Craig,

Rami Malek and Ana de

Armas. The mainland China

release dates of Universal

Pictures’ “Dolittle” and

“1917,” Searchlight Pictures’

“Jojo Rabbit” and Pa-

ramount Pictures’ “Sonic

the Hedgehog” have been

postponed indefinitely.

Pixar’s “Onward” and Sony

Pictures’ “Bloodshot” could

also be vulnerable depend-

ing on the length of the clo-

sures, and Disney’s “Mulan”

has no confirmed Chinese

release date.

Bond film’s release pushed

back amid virus outbreak

“NO TIME TO DIE”will be released worldwide in

November after the movie’s second release delay.

Jose PerezBauer-Griffin/GC Images

By Christie D’Zurilla

Huawei Technologies Co.

pleaded not guilty Wednes-

day to racketeering charges

filed last month by U.S. pros-

ecutors who accused the

Chinese telecommunica-

tions equipment giant of a

20-year pattern of corporate

espionage.

The company had called

the charges “unfounded and

unfair” prior to entering its

plea Wednesday in federal

court in Brooklyn, New York.

Huawei and Chief Finan-

cial Officer Meng Wanzhou

already were facing charges

that they evaded U.S. sanc-

tions on Iran and lied to

American authorities. Pros-

ecutors in February unveiled

a revised indictment that

seeks a stiff punishment

under federal racketeering

law for the company’s al-

leged conspiracy to steal in-

tellectual property from half

a dozen U.S. firms over the

years.

The escalation of the

criminal case comes as the

Trump administration con-

tinues to brand Huawei a

threat to national security

while the company com-

petes in the global battle for

supremacy in fifth-genera-

tion wireless technology, or

5G.

The charges are likely to

increase tensions between

Beijing and Washington,

which has accused Huawei

of spying for the Chinese

government, even as the

company won a brief re-

prieve from a proposed ban

on buying parts in the U.S.

The revised indictment

doesn’t name the businesses

from which Huawei alleg-

edly stole intellectual prop-

erty.

But details of the allega-

tions match descriptions of

Cisco Systems Inc., Motor-

ola Inc., T-Mobile US Inc.

and Cnex Labs Inc. Several

related cases involving

Huawei, including one in Se-

attle and another in Brook-

lyn, are also pending.

Huawei has said the new

accusations rest on “recy-

cled civil disputes from the

last 20 years that have been

previously settled, litigated,

and in some cases, rejected

by federal judges and juries.”

The indictment is “part of

the Justice Department’s at-

tempt to irrevocably dam-

age Huawei’s reputation and

its business for reasons re-

lated to competition rather

than law enforcement.”

Meanwhile, Meng, the

eldest daughter of Huawei’s

billionaire founder, Ren

Zhengfei, continues to fight

extradition from Canada

over charges that she helped

the company violate U.S.

economic sanctions against

Iran.

She argues that the

charges are politically moti-

vated.

The case, U.S. vs. Huawei

Technologies Co., is being

heard in the Eastern District

of New York.

Huawei enters plea in U.S. case

The Chinese maker of

telecom equipment

called racketeering

charges ‘unfounded

and unfair.’

bloomberg

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