Customs Protection refers to protection measures by the Chinese Customs to protect trademark, copyright, patent and rights related thereto, and to prohibit infringing goods from being imported or exported.
Owners of Intellectual Property Rights can apply to the State Customs. According to Regulations of IPR Customs Protection, owners may apply to the General Administration of Customs to record their IPRS. The Customs shall, upon discovering any imports and exports suspected of infringing upon the IPRS registered in the General Administration of Customs, suspend Customs clearance procedures, notify the relevant owners of IPRS and impound the goods suspected of IPR infringement. In addition to impounding the goods, the Customs is also entitled to conduct investigations and punish the parties concerned.
When implementing protection of Intellectual Property Rights, Customs shall maintain the confidentiality and trade secrets of the related parties.
“IPR Customs Protection by Application”; means that when owners of IPRs discover that certain infringing goods are about to be exported through Chinese Customs, they can inform the Customs to take action, and to possibly impound the goods suspected of infringement. These protective measures are regulated in Article 12, 13 and 14 of Regulation of PRC’s IPR Customs Protection. In case the Customs fails to carry out any investigations, owners of IPRS can bring the case before the People’s Court. The protection implemented in accordance with application is also called the mode of “passive protection” of Intellectual Property Rights.
An application form shall include the following particulars:
1.name, place of registration or nationality, etc. of the owner of the Intellectual Property Rights;
2.Name and relevant detailed information of the Intellectual Property Rights;
3.Names of consignors or consignees involved in exporting or importing products suspected of infringing upon rights;
4.Names and specifications of the goods suspected of infringing upon rights;
5.the port by which, the time at which and the means of transportation by which, the goods suspected of infringing upon rights may enter into, or exit from, China.
Where the goods suspected of infringing upon rights that are registered for record, the application form shall also include the customs record number.
Case:
We, entrusted by Company A, the owner of trademark, applied for registration of “XX ”trademark to the General Administration of Customs.
In February 2010, Kunshan B Import Export Trading Co., Ltd. (Company B) tried to export belts carrying “XX” trademark to Nigeria without authorization by Company A, the owner of trademark “XX”. In accordance with the declaration documents of Company B, Ningbo Customs carried out an on-site inspection of the declared goods. Company B declared for export 200 cartons of 800 belts in each carton at total price of 1,714 Yuan for general trade.
Ningbo Customs found that leather belts carrying “XX” trademark was registered by Company A in IPR Customs Protection system. Without any authorization documents issued by Company A, Company B’s acts possibly infringed Company A’s exclusive right to use this trademark. Ningbo Customs then informed our company for requested for our assistance to verify whether the belts were authorized by Company A for export. Upon receipt of the above notification, our company received confirmation from Company A that the belts were not authorized, and therefore, on behalf of Company A, we filed an application for customs protection of intellectual property to Ningbo Customs. Later on, we received a notification from Ningbo Customs that all infringing goods were impounded.
In March 2011, we received a notification from Ningbo Customs that the leather belts were found to be fake. In accordance with Article 23 of Regulation of the PRC’s on the IPR Customs Protection, Ningbo Customs decided to confiscate Company B’s 200 cartons of 800 infringing belts. The Customs will then destroy the infringing products.