Seizures of counterfeit imports at the nation’s trade gateways rose by 22% in number — and by 141% in value — during the first half of fiscal year 2007, federal officials said Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Authorities said the flood of bogus goods illustrates how some exporters to the U.S. are increasingly ripping off the intellectual property rights of legitimate manufacturers.

“There is $5 trillion to $5.5 trillion of intellectual property value in our economy and it’s a very valuable thing to steal,” said Jon Dudas, undersecretary of Commerce for intellectual property and director of the U.S. Patent Office.

Dudas and other officials held a news conference Tuesday as part of a weeklong series of events to underscore the economic costs and health threats posed by counterfeit and pirated goods.

In the Los Angeles area, for example, officials said counterfeiting and piracy costs businesses $5.2 billion and was responsible for the loss of 106,000 jobs.

The seized counterfeit goods on display at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection warehouse in Long Beach included laughably amateurish “Dinacell” batteries.

But they also included Lancome skin cream containers that were nearly impossible to distinguish from the real thing: pseudo pharmaceuticals, bogus Donald Duck dolls and phony Air Jordan basketball shoes in boxes that promised a portion of the sales proceeds would go to charity.

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