An annual effort to stop websites from illegally selling counterfeit products continues to grow, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a Dec. 2 release. Along with 24 law enforcement agencies across 18 countries, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) shut down 29,684 domain names that sold counterfeit merchandise online, the agency said. The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, a U.S. interagency collaboration led by HSI, "partnered with Europol who, through its member countries, seized top-level domains" as part of the operation, called Project Transatlantic/Operation In-Our-Sites V, said ICE. "During this past year and leading up to Cyber Monday, the National IPR Center and its partners used both criminal and civil actions to successfully shutdown websites selling counterfeit goods, significantly bolstering the overall impact of this year’s efforts," ICE said. Last year, ICE and 10 other agencies seized 706 domain names as part of the same effort (see 1312030079). This was this fifth year that ICE has led the anti-counterfeiting website operation.
Amazon provided a peek into its Cyber Monday deals Friday, giving consumers a reason to stay in front of the computer rather than traipsing to stores. Some of the “best deals of the year” were to kick in on Saturday, Amazon said, with new deals added as often as every 10 minutes, it said. The retailer will offer three Deals of the Day on Cyber Monday, plus half-off TVs, headphones and toys, it said. Among its electronic deals were a Sony 40-inch 1080p LED TV for $298; a 49-inch LG 49-inch 4K Ultra HD TV for $999 plus 15 percent back in rewards, a rewards deal that's also good on other select LG TVs; $30 off select Bose headphones; an Acer Chromebook for $149; an HP desktop PC bundle with 23-inch monitor; and 25 percent off iHome and Philips Bluetooth speakers. Amazon will also offer mobile shoppers exclusive deals through the Amazon shopping app on Monday, it said. Manufacturers, meanwhile, broke out their own holiday deals the day after Thanksgiving, with Apple and Samsung looking to beat the competition and clear inventory by year-end. Friday only at the online Apple store, customers could get iTunes gift cards with the purchase of a computer ($100 card), iPad ($50 card), Apple TV ($25 card), Beats product ($25 card) or iPod Touch or Nano ($25 card). Samsung emailed customers Thursday alerting them to “undeletable” four-figure discount deals on TVs, giving the option of ordering directly or from a long list of retailers. Prices are good through Dec. 1, it said. A 60-inch smart HDTV showed for $799 ($1,100 off) and a 65-inch HDTV rang in at $999 ($1,400 off), it said. A 55-inch 4K Ultra HD TV was priced $999 ($1,000) off.