Enriching Life Through Innovative Ideas SM

Stopping Counterfeiters in Their Tracks

When you find that a foreign company is making counterfeits of your product, it is hard to know where to start. Protecting your merchandise is a genuine concern, now more than ever. Around the world, roughly $500 billion dollars are lost to counterfeiting every year, making up 3.3% of the global market. Getting these fake products off the market and ensuring that your intellectual property is not infringed upon is a top priority. Wang IP Law Group, P.C. can help you navigate this process.

Intellectual property law places the responsibility of identifying and reporting counterfeiters with the intellectual property rights holders. While this may seem daunting, rights holders can stop counterfeiters in their tracks with the help of Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) as detailed below. Just last year, over $1.3 billion dollars’ worth of counterfeit or otherwise infringing products was seized and taken off the market by CBP.

Protecting Your IP Rights

Intellectual property rights holders can use CBP’s e-Recordation and e-Allegation services to report internationally imported and exported counterfeit products, as well as products that violate other international trade regulations. By submitting an e-Recordation and/or e-Allegation, you can give CBP the information it needs to detain, seize, and destroy infringing merchandise seeking entry into or out of the United States.

Counterfeit goods are becoming more and more sophisticated, making it more difficult to determine fake and genuine products. Our firm can help you create a personalized Product Identification Guide to provide to CBP that shows the differences between genuine and counterfeit goods, records infringing trademarks, and identifies avenues to catch counterfeiters as their products enter the United States. This Product Identification Guide will be integrated to CBP’s internal system and linked to your e-Recordation.

E-Recordation

Submitting an e-Recordation allows intellectual property rights holders to partner with CBP to protect your trademark or copyright. The e-Recordation gives CBP information on what your product is, who is authorized to use your intellectual property, and where your products are being manufactured and sold around the world. Your e-Recordation will then be available at all U.S. ports to help CBP determine whether any imported or exported products are counterfeit or infringing. Submitting an e-Recordation may greatly increase the chances of CBP seizing any such unauthorized products.

E-Allegation

If you have information about an individual or business that is infringing on your intellectual property rights, you may also want to file an e-Allegation. An e-Allegation allows an intellectual property rights holder to report any violations relating to the trade or importation of goods. If you have information relating to suspect shipments or parties importing infringing products, CBP can open a case to investigate your claims. It is highly recommended that a Product Identification Guide be provided in conjunction with the e-Allegation so that CBP officers have guidance on how to determine between genuine and counterfeit products.

Protect your business’s income, reputation, and intellectual property rights by filling an e-Recordation and/or e-Allegation with Customs and Border Protection. With counterfeiting becoming increasingly hard to counter, it is important to have someone in your corner who can protect your intellectual property rights. Our intellectual property attorneys can assist you in curating and developing a relationship with Customs and Border Protection to help stop infringing and counterfeit products from entering the United States.

If you believe you may be a victim of intellectual property infringement or counterfeiting, please do not hesitate to contact our firm for a consultation.

______________________________________________________________________________

Wang IP Law Group, P.C. is a Los Angeles based full service legal firm that specializes in intellectual property law (patent, trademark, copyright, and licensing agreement), business and commercial litigation, and a wide range of other legal matters including immigration, real estate, and landlord/tenant cases. Our multilingual attorneys represent clients from all over California and internationally from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and Israel.

If you have questions or would like a consultation in regards to the content of this publication, please contact us by calling (888) 827-8880 or email us at [email protected]. For more information about the firm and the services please visit www.TheWangIPLaw.com.