Video: Senator Schumer Defends Farmingdale Business in Counterfeit Case

United States Sen. Charles Schumer, D- New York, visited . in Farmingdale to call on Department of Homeland Security, the U.S.Department of Justice and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representatives to launch a crackdown on the makers and distributors of counterfeit D'Addario products in China.

A private  investigation by D'Addario uncovered that an extensive China-based counterfeiting operation that has been illegally producing and selling sub-grade counterfeit strings, under the D'Addario label, to custumers around the world.

Owners John and Jim D'Addario estimate that the business has lost millions of dollars to the counterfeit operation, which sells on overseas retailers like Alibaba.com. Alibaba has voluntarily taken down 421 ads since being notified.

D'Addario employes 800 people on Long Island and provides guitar strings to musicians like Dave Mathews, Lenny Kravitz and Bon Jovi. The company produces 20 million guitar string sets each year all in the United States.