A serious dent in the watch counterfeiting business in the United States was made recently by Seiko. Between July and September 2000, three lawsuits were filed by Seiko Corp. of Japan, one of the world's largest watchmakers, and Seiko Corp. of America, its U.S. subsidiary based in Mahwah, N.J. The suits led to the seizure by federal marshals of thousands of fake Seiko watches. Seiko announced the results of the company's actions on Dec. 18. "Seiko takes this [counterfeiting] issue seriously and is trying to protect our customers and potential customers from counterfeiters to the greatest extent we can," says Lawrence Rosenthal, U.S. legal counsel for Seiko. "We want to put a significant bite [on vendors of counterfeit Seiko watches], cut off activity wherever we can, and convey the idea that counterfeiting Seiko watches is not a healthy activity." Seiko has always enforced its tradem