From 1995, the General Administration of Customs of China began to implement a system with the purpose of protecting intellectual property. Compared to the IP Protection Law, trademark owners get extra protection from this protectionism by submitting a record of their trademarks to the customs.
How It Protects Your Trademark
The China customes processes tens of millions of shipments each year through hundreds of ports of entry or exit. It inspects incoming & outgoing shipments and compares the shipment’s contents to trademark recordation. If the goods bear a mark in a recorded registration, the customs detains the goods and contacts the mark’s owner. In some situations, trademark owners can assist customs and other law enforcement agencies in building a prosecution against counterfeiters.
Benefits of Recording Trademark
Infringers are deterred from stealing your IP.
Registering your trademark provides enhanced protection against counterfeit or infringing products. The system ensures that infringing products are discovered promptly, allowing sufficient time for investigation and action.
Customs all over China can be included in the scope of supervision.
Your brand is protected.
Fake products are less likely to reach your market and be sold in competition to your own.
The scope of protectionism is extensive as customs all over the country can be involved in detaining infringing products. Therefore, this level of protectionism can deter the frequency of infringement attempts in the future.
3 Steps To Record Your Trademark With Customs
Submit materials to the General Administration of Customs for acceptance.
Upon acceptance, the General Administration of Customs will begin to examine the materials.
Once examined, the trademark filing process has successfully been completed.
