http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=206591 Homeland Security Agents Visit Toy Store Homeland Security Agents Visit Small Toy Store in Oregon About Magic Cube The Associated PressThe Associated Press ST. HELENS, Ore. Oct 28, 2004 — So far as she knows, Pufferbelly Toys owner Stephanie Cox hasn't been passing any state secrets to sinister foreign governments, or violating obscure clauses in the Patriot Act. So she was taken aback by a mysterious phone call from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to her small store in this quiet Columbia River town just north of Portland. "I was shaking in my shoes," Cox said of the September phone call. "My first thought was the government can shut your business down on a whim, in my opinion. If I'm closed even for a day that would cause undue stress." When the two agents arrived at the store, the lead agent asked Cox whether she carried a toy called the Magic Cube, which he said was an illegal copy of the Rubik's Cube, one of the most popular toys of all time. He told her to remove the Magic Cube from her shelves, and he watched to make sure she complied. After the agents left, Cox called the manufacturer of the Magic Cube, the Toysmith Group, which is based in Auburn, Wash. A representative told her that Rubik's Cube patent had expired, and the Magic Cube did not infringe on the rival toy's trademark. Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents went to Pufferbelly based on a trademark infringement complaint filed in the agency's intellectual property rights center in Washington, D.C. "One of the things that our agency's responsible for doing is protecting the integrity of the economy and our nation's financial systems and obviously trademark infringement does have significant economic implications," she said. Six weeks after her brush with Homeland Security, Cox told The Oregonian she is still bewildered by the experience. "Aren't there any terrorists out there?" she said. ____________________________________________ I think we have to applaud the president for the creation and direction of this agency. Not only are they able to protect our country and keel terrorists and evil-doers, they also have the adaptability to destroy other super-villains such as copyright infringement, our economy, our trademarks and the quality control of life. Those are tax dollars I'm willing to cough up with no complaint, unlike the 6000% tax increase John Forbes Kerry will tax on the ordinary person to fund his wife's ketchup factory. NO BLOOD FOR KETCHUP!!!!
In defense, the article is confusing US customs, which handles such matters, with homeland security. although both are connected and i think Homeland security is having an ever increasing hand over customs, the article doesn't make it clear they are connected. Even still, the shopowner should have been informed it was customs enforcement, not homeland security making the hit on her store.
