Heard in the Channel: Eaton Continues Work to Fight Counterfeit Products

Manufacturer Eaton Corp. is making strides in its ongoing efforts to educate buyers about the dangers of counterfeit electrical products. Tom Grace, the company’s brand protection manager for Eaton’s Electrical Sector-Americas, recently participated in an American Bar Association panel discussion on the dangers of counterfeit products. The company followed that up with a webinar on how to recognize and avoid such parts this week.

The ABA panel discussion was held at Boston’s Hynes Convention Center on August 8 and was part of the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL) program during the association’s 2104 Annual Meeting. Entitled “Buyer Beware: Dangerous Counterfeits in the U.S.,” the program focused on the problem of dangerous counterfeits that pose a heightened risk to human health and safety, addressing possible solutions from policy, legislation, implementation, and legal perspectives. Grace joined representatives from pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. and from U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) to share and develop best practices and strategies for combating counterfeiting across the country and beyond. Grace focused on the dangers of counterfeit electrical products and the importance of cross-industry collaboration in the fight against counterfeiting.

Eaton followed up the session with a webinar this week focused on helping contractors detect and avoid counterfeit electrical products. Hosted by Grace, the webinar was aimed at Eaton’s Certified Contractors Network, a nationwide service for contractors, residential service electricians, and commercial contractors.

Eaton’s efforts in the electrical industry mirror similar ongoing programs for buyers of electronic components, including those sponsored by the Independent Distributors of Electronics Association (IDEA), which has an e-training program scheduled this fall.

In other industry news:

America II Electronics, Inc., signed a new distribution agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor, a maker of discrete semiconductors, analog ICs, power transistors, and MosFETs used in automotive, computer, consumer, industrial, telecom, and photovoltaic industries.
Future Electronics signed a new distribution agreement with CSR plc, maker of multifunction connectivity, audio, automotive, and location platforms. Future will market CSR’s high-performance ICs through its Future Connectivity Solutions business across North, Central, and South America.
TTI, Inc. signed a distribution agreement with Wakefield-Vette, a global leader in thermal management solutions.
Precision microwave components maker Anritsu Company expanded RFMW’s distribution territory for coaxial connectors and coaxial components. Along with the United States, the specialty electronics distribution company will now market and sell Anritsu connectors and components in Canada, Mexico, and Central and South America.
Avnet’s RGS business unit announced the release of its Cold Storage solution, which lets end customers optimize and manage petabyte-scale data more efficiently and cost effectively based on today’s rise in data, including rich media, images, video, archives, and more. RGS is part of Avnet’s embedded services business.