U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

From the Car Boot to Booting it up? eBay, Online Counterfeit Crime and the Transformation of the Criminal Marketplace

NCJ Number
239299
Journal
Criminology & Criminal Justice Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2012 Pages: 175-191
Author(s)
James Treadwell
Date Published
April 2012
Length
17 pages
Annotation

This article investigates various forms of intellectual property crime and the link with online trading.

Abstract

This article is based on research with men who have embraced the new technological opportunities offered by the internet to sell counterfeit products and engage in forms of intellectual property crime, specifically trading counterfeit items through Internet Web sites. It examines case studies and qualitative material generated through interviews with professional criminal entrepreneurs who have made use of the Web site 'eBay' in order to distribute goods while minimizing the risk of detection and prosecution. This empirical material, it suggests, provides some initial evidence of how more traditional forms of working class male enterprise crime are now being mutated and superseded, and are shifting in light of the opportunities provided by new technology, moving from traditional local marketplaces to new online settings. (Published Abstract)