According to the most recent New York Comptroller's report, published in 2004, the city's residents pay nearly $23 billion annually for counterfeit goods. This makes up 8 percent of overall counterfeit trade in the United States, and costs the city about $1 billion in tax revenue.

"Every day, someone in the city gets arrested for trademark counterfeiting," McDonald says. "It's just a huge problem. And even with the great job that the police and the district attorney and the mayor's office do, it's a bigger problem than they can handle."