Aurora, IL-- (SBWIRE) -- 10/31/2011 -- The Label Printers’ Chief Executive, Bill Kane, and Chief of Operations, Lori Campbell recently returned from Madrid, Spain where they attended the 2011 International Law Enforcement Intellectual Property (IP) Crime Conference – held in Madrid and co-hosted by INTERPOL, EUROPOL, and Cuerpo Nacional de Policía in partnership with Underwriters Laboratories. The Label Printers was a Platinum Sponsor of the Conference, which brought together hundreds of attendees from around the world, representing the law enforcement community, IP and brand owners, anti-counterfeiting solution suppliers, and others interested in combating the global menace of counterfeiting and piracy.

UL’s web site explains the basis for the conference. “Building on the success of the past four conferences, the 2011 conference will continue to feature plenary sessions, operational workshops and an operational round table. The operational workshops will cover a wide range of practical topics from:

• Partnership to sharing collective expertise

• IP crime training to capacity building

• integrated analysis, integration prosecution strategies to managing global operations

• counterfeit medicines, illicit internet activities to e-commerce

• investigating illicit trade to protecting trade secrets.

The purpose of the operational round table is to share findings and review the conclusions of the operational workshops from the previous day. The outcome of each round table will include recommendations about what works on a regional/global scale and a rating in terms of feasibility and priority. This will be reported to all delegates and debated in the round table feedback session at the conclusion of the conference.”

Mr. Kane explained that the Conference’s principal message was the vital importance of information sharing and cooperation between all of those involved in the fight to combat counterfeiting. But, he said, “Saying is not doing. Everyone involved in this conference understands that, and is trying to make that cooperation a reality. And, when you consider the organizations and individuals who attend this conference, the information sharing that occurs at that level is invaluable. It’s so interesting to hear speakers such as the Inspector General of Police from Tanzania, Said Mwema, talking about how important it is to open up borders and having avenues of international communication in a country like Tanzania, which has over 40,000,000 people with only 38,000 police officers.”

Mr. Kane and Ms. Campbell both agreed that this conference, now in its’ fifth year is unique in its focus and deliverables. Said Kane,

“We have developed contacts with so many people involved in the fight against anti-counterfeiting. And it’s not just the contacts – this conference has given us the opportunity to get to know attendees at a level that allows us to become resources for each other.” Campbell adds, “As a layman, my impression is that the actions that come out of this conference are a result of knowing who to contact…getting to understand who the “go to” people are, and how to work through the bureaucracy.”

“Listening to people on the front lines who use and inspect our products – hearing about their day to day concerns and challenges is one of the biggest pluses for our company’s participation in this conference. It helps us to look at all of the anti-counterfeiting options in the marketplace and convert them into the finished products and systems that our customers need.” said Ms. Campbell.

“It’s also important for our employees to understand the complexity of counterfeiting and IP theft, the increasing sophistication of IP criminals, and the global efforts to find deterrents and, when necessary, to determine whether to pursue criminal or financial penalties. But I would say that the conference’s greatest value to me and to The Label Printers, is its focus on how critical it is to understand the entire supply chain – we can’t just attack the problem in one place in the chain – the solutions need to cover the chain from beginning to end.”

About THE LABEL PRINTERS
The Label Printers, Aurora, IL, started in business in 1967, manufacturing simple label constructions in a 1,000 square foot space, with 1 employee, serving the local Chicago market.

Today, the company has evolved into one of the 100 largest converters in the United States. The Label Printers owns and operates two facilities in Aurora, Illinois, manufacturing and distributing labels and packaging products to thousands of customers in 25 countries around the world. The company’s packaging products are certified to ISO 9001 standards, and their quality is backed up by their 99.6% Quality Acceptance Rating.

About Underwriters Laboratories
Underwriters Laboratories® is an independent product safety certification organization that has been testing products and writing standards for safety for more than a century. UL evaluates more than 19,000 types of products, components, materials and systems annually with 20 billion UL Marks appearing on 72,000 manufacturers' products each year. UL's worldwide family of companies and network of service providers includes 64 laboratory, testing and certification facilities serving customers in 98 countries.

About INTERPOL
INTERPOL is the world’s largest international police organization, with 188 member countries. Created in 1923, it facilitates cross-border police co-operation, and supports and assists all organizations, authorities and services whose mission is to prevent or combat international crime.

INTERPOL aims to facilitate international police co-operation even where diplomatic relations do not exist between particular countries. Action is taken within the limits of existing laws in different countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. INTERPOL’s constitution prohibits ‘any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.’

About EUROPOL
Europol is the law enforcement agency of the European Union. Our aim is to help achieve a safer Europe by supporting the law enforcement agencies of European Union member states in their fight against international serious crime and terrorism.

More than 700 staff at Europol headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands work closely with law enforcement agencies in the 27 European Union member states and in other non-EU partner states such as Australia, Canada, the USA and Norway.