China Customs' Seizure Of Suspected Infringing Goods In 2015

The types of intellectual property rights infringed by suspected infringing goods seized by the customs in 2015 include trademark Exclusive rights, patent rights, copyrights and copyright related rights, among which there are more than 68 million goods involved in trademark infringement, accounting for 98% of the total suspected infringing goods.

In 2015, the General Administration of Customs thoroughly studied and implemented the spirit of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Plenary Sessions of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important speeches. In accordance with the deployment of the 2015 National Customs Commissioner's Meeting, closely following the national innovation driven development strategy, the General Administration of Customs actively participated in the construction of a strong country with intellectual property rights, and gave full play to the customs' inbound and outbound intellectual property protection functions, Strive to crack down on infringement and counterfeiting activities in the import and export field, and strive to maintain a fair and orderly trade environment, with remarkable results.

　 1、 China Customs' seizure of suspected infringing goods in 2015

In 2015, China Customs took more than 25000 measures to protect intellectual property rights, and actually detained more than 23000 batches of goods suspected of import and export infringement, involving more than 70 million pieces of goods.

　　 In 2015, China Customs seized suspected infringing goods with the following characteristics:

（1） The customs shall take the initiative to check and detain in accordance with its own authority.

In 2015, the batches of suspected infringing goods seized by the customs on its own initiative accounted for about 99% of the total number of detained batches in the whole year, involving more than 45 million pieces of goods, accounting for about 65% of the total number of detained goods; The customs detained 68 batches of suspected infringing goods according to the application, but many goods were involved, more than 24 million pieces in total, accounting for 35% of the total amount of goods detained.

（2） The number of infringing goods seized in the import process continued to grow.

The infringing goods seized by the customs in the import link have maintained a growth trend for many consecutive years. In 2015, 753 batches of suspected infringing goods were seized in the import link, an increase of about 10% over 2014. The seized places are mainly in Qingdao, Shenzhen, Kunming, Nanning and other ports.

At the same time, 22000 batches of suspected infringing goods were seized by the customs in the export link in 2015, accounting for 96.76% of the total number of seized batches, down 2.64% from 2014; 69.44 million pieces of goods were involved, accounting for 99.53% of the total suspected infringing goods, down 24.13% from 2014. The suspected infringing goods seized by the customs in the export link showed an overall downward trend.

（3） The number of goods infringing independent intellectual property rights increased significantly.

In 2015, the customs continued to strengthen the protection of independent intellectual property rights of domestic enterprises, serving and supporting enterprises to "go global". In the whole year, 1939 batches of goods suspected of infringing independent intellectual property rights were seized, with a case value of more than 55.9 million yuan, up 130.29% and 571.41%, a significant increase.

（4） Mainly goods infringing the exclusive right to use trademarks.

The types of intellectual property rights infringed by the suspected infringing goods seized by the customs in 2015 include trademark exclusive right, patent right, copyright and copyright related rights, among which more than 68 million goods involved in trademark infringement, accounting for 98% of the total suspected infringing goods.

（5） Mainly consumer infringing goods.

The suspected infringing goods seized by the customs in 2015 were mainly cosmetic care products, tobacco products, electromechanical products, hardware machinery clothing 、 footwear Etc. Compared with 2014, the number of suspected infringing goods such as cosmetics and nursing supplies, jewelry, medical devices and watches increased significantly; Food and beverage, light industrial products, storage media, other mechanical and electrical products and other categories of goods suspected of infringement showed a downward trend.

（6） The seizure of infringing goods in postal and maritime channels presents different characteristics.

The infringing goods seized in the mail channel are characterized by a large number of batches and a small number. Nearly 20000 batches of suspected infringing goods were seized, accounting for 84% of the total number of seized batches, up 2.7% year on year;

The infringing goods seized in the maritime channel are characterized by a small number of batches and a large number of batches. Although the seized batches account for less than 8% of the total number of seized batches, nearly 68 million pieces of suspected infringing goods are involved, accounting for 97.6% of the total number of suspected infringing goods.

（7） The destination countries (places) of infringing goods are widely distributed.

The destination countries (places) of the suspected infringing goods seized by the customs involve 141 countries and regions. The top ten destination countries (places) are the United States, Brazil, Spain, Italy, France, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Russian Federation and Hong Kong, China, respectively, based on the number of suspected infringing goods; Based on the number of suspected infringing goods, the top ten destination countries (regions) are Iran, Spain, Pakistan, Belgium, Australia, Indonesia, the Russian Federation, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

　 2、 Main Measures of the Customs to Protect Intellectual Property Rights in 2015

　 （1） Carry out the "Breeze" action to maintain the overseas image of "Made in China".

According to the unified deployment of the "National Leading Group Office for Combating IPR Infringement and Manufacturing and Selling Counterfeit and Inferior Commodities" of the State Council, the General Administration of Customs organized the national customs to carry out the "Made in China Overseas Image Maintenance 'Breeze' Action" (hereinafter referred to as the "Breeze" Action). The General Administration of Customs specially formulated and issued a work plan for the "Breeze" action, and 42 customs directly under the General Administration of Customs established a leading group for the "Breeze" action; Strengthen the unified command and linkage of the General Administration, concentrate law enforcement resources and forces, and effectively investigate and deal with violations; To carry out regional law enforcement cooperation among customs in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Beijing Tianjin Hebei and other regions, and build a three-dimensional network to combat infringement and counterfeiting; Intensify intelligence analysis and risk research and judgment on key ports and routes to Africa and the Arab region, and carry out precision attacks; We will strengthen assistance to African and Arab countries in building their customs law enforcement capacity and improve the effectiveness of coordinated attacks. According to statistics, 6182 batches of infringing goods were seized and detained by the customs throughout the year, involving 38.81 million infringing goods, which effectively maintained the overseas image of "Made in China". During the "Breeze" campaign, the national customs actively used intelligent control means to seize a number of typical cases. For example, Shanghai Customs, through risk analysis, successively seized nearly 150000 masks that violated the "3M" trademark right and were exported to Nigeria, and promptly reported them to the public security organs to help destroy transnational counterfeiting and selling gangs with a total value of 10 million involved; Ningbo Customs seized the violation of "DONGIL" exported to Georgia through the analysis of customs declaration information SUPER 84029 rubber V-belts of STAR trademark; Hangzhou Customs, subordinate to Wenzhou Customs, carried out accurate analysis and control based on information clues, and successively seized 46400 pairs of sneakers allegedly infringing the trademark rights of well-known sports brands that were exported to Nigeria, Mozambique and other countries.

（2） In response to the new situation of infringement and violation of laws, special governance was carried out in key areas.

The customs conscientiously implemented the Opinions of the State Council on Strengthening the Governance of Infringement and Counterfeiting in the Internet Field, and continued to promote the special governance of infringement and counterfeiting in the Internet field with the goal of promoting the healthy development of cross-border e-commerce and other emerging businesses, We will focus on improving import and export postal express mail. In the whole year, more than 20000 batches of suspected infringing goods were seized and delivered via mail and express, accounting for 86% of the total batches, effectively curbing the frequent occurrence of "ant moving" type infringement and counterfeiting activities.

In addition, the customs continued to list fake food and drugs, cosmetics, automobile and motorcycle accessories that endanger the health and safety of consumers as the focus of law enforcement, increased the intensity of investigation, and seized a number of major cases. For example, Gongbei Customs seized more than 20000 chocolates infringing the "Ferrero three-dimensional trademark"; Guangzhou Customs seized 62328 pieces of infringement "POND'S" and "U" worth more than 600000 yuan Cosmetics with exclusive right to use Unilever and other trademarks; Dalian Customs investigated and dealt with 5628 pieces of auto parts with a value of more than 400000 yuan that violated "CHERY" and its logo.

（3） We will promote information disclosure and improve the transparency of law enforcement.

The customs implemented the requirements of the State Council on the disclosure of information on infringement and counterfeiting cases, and in accordance with the Implementation Measures of the Customs on the Disclosure of Information on Administrative Penalties for Import and Export Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights in accordance with Law (for Trial Implementation), opened information on administrative penalties for intellectual property rights on the customs Internet portal and the "Credit China" government website, and increased the exposure of infringement and counterfeiting cases, Vigorously deter infringers. According to statistics, in 2015, the customs nationwide disclosed more than 1000 cases of intellectual property administrative penalties, and the transparency of law enforcement was significantly improved.

At the same time, the customs, based on the principle of "convenient compliance with the law and punishment for violation of the law", connected the administrative punishment of intellectual property rights with the enterprise credit management, and reduced the credit rating of the import and export enterprises that were punished for infringement and counterfeiting in accordance with the law and increased the cost of customs clearance. Shanghai Customs has incorporated the violation of intellectual property rights into the evaluation criteria for enterprises to enjoy the facilitation measures of the Free Trade Zone, adopted the one vote veto system for intellectual property rights, and fostered enterprises' awareness of abiding by the law.

（4） Reduce the cost of enterprise rights protection and improve the service level.

In order to reduce the burden of protecting the rights of enterprises, guide and encourage enterprises to actively apply to the customs for record protection, the General Administration of Customs suspended the collection of customs protection record fees for intellectual property rights (800 yuan/piece) from November 1, 2015. The policy implementation has achieved good results. In the short term, the average daily filing application volume of enterprises has increased by about 100% compared with that before the cancellation of charges. According to statistics, in 2015, the customs accepted more than 7500 filing applications online, and more than 5600 were approved, including 2878 approved domestic obligees, accounting for about 50% of the total.

In addition, the customs also established a counterpart contact mechanism to provide enterprises with personalized legal guidance and other services to effectively help enterprises solve difficult problems. For example, Gongbei Customs, relying on the "Zhuhai Intellectual Property Forum" hosted by Zhuhai Intellectual Property Office, held special training on customs protection of intellectual property for more than 40 member units of Zhuhai Intellectual Property Protection Association and key independent intellectual property enterprises in the customs area. Kunming Customs, subordinate to the customs, signed a memorandum of cooperation with Huawei to jointly crack down on Huawei mobile phones illegally exported overseas, effectively maintaining Huawei's overseas brand image and market share.

（5） Strengthen law enforcement cooperation and form a joint force of law enforcement for comprehensive governance.

The customs actively participated in the construction of the national platform for combating infringement and counterfeiting, strengthened cross departmental law enforcement cooperation, strengthened cooperation with local governments at all levels, actively provided information and statistical data on infringement and counterfeiting in the import and export link, established a case consultation and law enforcement coordination mechanism with relevant departments, strengthened tracking and tracing of infringing and counterfeit goods, territorial management and joint action, and established departmental linkage The joint defense linkage pattern of combination of attack and construction, and internal and external coordination provides strong support for "source investigation, market clearing, and end dens". Fuzhou Customs signed Several Opinions on Establishing the "Great Mediation" Linkage Mechanism for Intellectual Property Disputes with the local court and other competent intellectual property authorities, and participated in the great mediation linkage mechanism for intellectual property disputes, which has achieved good results.

The customs further implemented the "convergence of the two laws", and cooperated with relevant departments in law enforcement in the investigation and arrest of specific cases. In particular, the customs cooperated with the public security organs to dig the source, break the network, break the channel, and destroy the chain. Throughout the year, 193 suspected cases of illegal crimes were transferred to the public security organs. Shenzhen Customs and Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau jointly study and revise the memorandum of cooperation, speed up the exchange of information, and win the first opportunity for case investigation. In 2015, 55 major cases were reported to the public security organs, and 19 cases were notified by the public security organs, making a significant breakthrough over previous years.

The General Administration of Customs and the State Intellectual Property Office have been constantly exploring the establishment of a patent protection cooperation model with the help of the law enforcement resources of both sides to form a joint force of law enforcement, and improving the patent protection cooperation mechanism in the import and export link. At present, Qingdao Customs is subordinate to Huangdao Customs and Qingdao Intellectual Property Office has carried out the pilot work of patent protection cooperation mechanism.

（6） Carry out cooperation with obligees and improve the level of law enforcement cooperation.

In 2015, China Customs continued to strengthen cooperation with intellectual property rights holders in various ways. It mainly focuses on the following aspects:

Invite the right holders to hold training on the identification of infringing goods and risk trends for customs officers, effectively improving the level of customs officers' investigation of infringing goods, and assisting the customs to grasp the latest infringement risk trends, thus improving the accuracy of control. At the same time, through in-depth exchanges, enterprises have enhanced their understanding of the difficulties and needs of customs law enforcement, enhanced their awareness of actively cooperating with customs law enforcement, and played a positive role in promoting the efficiency of customs law enforcement.

The customs gives full play to the advantages of enterprise information channels and encourages enterprises to actively collect information on the import and export of infringing goods. According to the information reported by enterprises, local customs seized a number of major infringement cases. For example, Nanjing Customs seized 15000 tons of cement infringing the "CONCH" trademark exported by a company through the shipping channel through the information reported by the obligee Anhui Conch Group Co., Ltd., and the value of the goods involved was 4.75 million yuan. Hangzhou Customs and Ningbo Customs jointly carried out the investigation and control of reporting clues with the obligee, defined the acceptance standards and handling procedures for reports of goods infringing intellectual property rights, and strengthened the law enforcement cooperation between the two customs offices for reports of goods infringing intellectual property rights.

The customs regularly reminds the intellectual property right holders to update and improve the list of legal users of the "intellectual property customs protection system", reduce the occurrence of the customs withholding of legal goods by mistake, interview the right holders who are slow to update information and have withheld legal goods by mistake, and restrict the abuse of the rights of the parties.

（7） Strengthen the protection of independent intellectual property rights and support enterprises to "go global".

In 2015, the national customs further strengthened the protection of independent intellectual property rights in accordance with the requirements of the General Administration of Customs. Specific measures are as follows:

First, continue to fight against infringement. In 2015, China Customs seized 1939 batches of import and export goods suspected of infringing independent intellectual property rights, worth more than 55.9 million yuan. For example, Tianjin Customs seized 700 cases of internal-combustion engine parts infringing the trademark of "Weichai"; Ningbo Customs seized 4068 air pumps infringing the trademark "COIDO"; Nanning Customs seized mobile power supply infringing "MI" trademark right and earphone infringing "OPPO" trademark right at the export link.

Second, guide enterprises to operate legally and safeguard their rights. The General Administration of Customs is exploring the establishment of a mechanism for customs to help enterprises quickly identify the intellectual property status of foreign orders, and encourage and guide enterprises to carry out export processing business legally. Local customs organized legal publicity and training activities on intellectual property rights for foreign trade enterprises, processing trade enterprises, postal and express transport enterprises and customs declaration enterprises to help enterprises improve their awareness and ability to safeguard their rights. For example, the customs in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta pilot to implement the contact point system of intellectual property customs protection enterprises, actively promote the "pre confirmation service of export brand orders", and prevent enterprises from passive infringement.

Third, strengthen cooperation with industry associations and enterprises. While strengthening the law enforcement, the customs also pays attention to the source control of infringement together with industry organizations in relevant fields to guide and regulate the healthy development of enterprises in the industry. For example, the General Administration of Customs has strengthened the contact and cooperation with the China Anti Infringement and Counterfeit Innovation Strategic Alliance, and actively listened to the suggestions and appeals of member enterprises in safeguarding their rights; Guangzhou and Huangpu Customs held a forum with the right holders of "Lanju", listened to the opinions of enterprises, and studied measures to further strengthen cooperation between the customs and the right holders in intellectual property protection under the current new situation; Longkou Customs signed protection agreements with Yantai Shuangta Fan Import and Export Co., Ltd., Weihai Customs and Shandong Weida Machinery Co., Ltd.

（8） Deepen cross-border cooperation and safeguard international trade security.

Infringement trade is a global problem, and combating cross-border trade of infringing goods requires close cooperation of law enforcement agencies in various countries and regions. In 2015, China Customs carried out international cooperation in the following aspects.

The General Administration of Customs continues to implement the Action Plan for Intellectual Property Cooperation 2014-2017 with EU Customs, and carries out risk information exchange; In June 2015, during the seventh round of the China US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the Chinese Customs and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau of the Department of Homeland Security of the United States signed the intellectual property cooperation document of the China US Customs, which has improved the level of combating cross-border infringing trade; The fifth working group meeting was held with the Russian Customs to formulate the 2015 – 2016 key work plan; Carry out personnel training and law enforcement exchanges with French customs; Dispatch personnel to carry out research on intellectual property protection and law enforcement in Latin America and the three countries, and study the next key work of the "cool breeze" action; Promote customs law enforcement cooperation among China, Japan and South Korea; Actively publicize the efforts and achievements of China's customs in combating infringement at multilateral international cooperation occasions such as the World Customs Organization, APEC and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

At the end of 2015, Shanghai Customs, on behalf of China Customs, participated in the joint law enforcement action carried out by the World Customs Organization, during which 150000 infringing goods were seized. By actively participating in international law enforcement cooperation, the Chinese government demonstrates its determination to protect intellectual property rights.

The Guangdong Branch of the Customs continued to promote the improvement of the cooperation mechanism of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Customs on intellectual property protection, and further deepened cross regional law enforcement cooperation. First, standardize the work of special liaison officers and actively perform their liaison duties; Second, steadily promote information reporting, and adhere to the system of monthly notification and immediate notification of major cases of cross-border infringement cases in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao; Third, we should carry out joint law enforcement actions with Hong Kong and Macao Customs in due course. At the end of 2015, according to the information provided by the Hong Kong Customs, the Guangdong Branch of the Customs, together with the Guangzhou Customs, successfully seized nearly 60000 infringing cosmetics declared for export in Nansha Port, Guangzhou. This is the largest infringement case seized by Guangdong and Hong Kong Customs through point-to-point intelligence cooperation in recent years.

（9） Increase social publicity and enhance public legal awareness.

In 2015, China Customs, while increasing its efforts to crack down and improve its deterrent force for law enforcement, focused on promoting the awareness of intellectual property protection of the whole society through publicity and education, and guided import and export enterprises to establish the concept of "law-abiding and convenient".

Continue to carry out centralized publicity. In 2015, the General Administration of Customs and local customs took advantage of the "4.26" Intellectual Property Publicity Week, the "8.8" Legal Publicity Day and the "12.4" Constitutional Day to focus on customs protection of intellectual property in various forms. Such as Publicity activities with the theme of "Integrity and Prosperity Month", "Franco Prudential Frontier Travel", "Customs Open Day", etc. have achieved good social results; All customs directly under the Central Government, in combination with the characteristics of the customs area, provide enterprises with "tailor-made" legal services in the form of policy seminars, liaison officers for customs enterprises to popularize the law, and improve the pertinence and effectiveness; Tianjin, Dalian, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Lhasa, Urumqi and other customs organizations publicly destroy infringing goods and publicize the harm of infringement and counterfeiting to the public; The customs in Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Huangpu and other places have made case statements through the news media to educate enterprises to operate in compliance with the law and respect intellectual property rights.

Strengthen the daily publicity of law popularization. The customs pays attention to the use of various media in daily law enforcement to carry out publicity and education of intellectual property protection, including: by virtue of the customs government microblog and WeChat platform, publicity of intellectual property customs protection laws and policies, law enforcement dynamics and typical cases, such as "Xiaoqing at Guangzhou Customs", "E Family at Fujian Customs", "Qiantang Customs Language" and "Law Shield at Chongqing Customs" More than 40 WeChat official accounts have successively published relevant contents of customs protection of intellectual property rights; Continue to popularize customs intellectual property protection knowledge through the customs 12360 service platform, answer hot and difficult issues, and accept opinions and suggestions from all sectors of society; By shooting videos and other forms to publicize the customs protection of intellectual property rights, Beijing Customs produced a special film on intellectual property protection publicity, which showed the achievements of Beijing Customs' intellectual property protection work in recent years to all sectors of society. Nanjing Customs shot a micro film titled "Intellectual Property Protection, Customs in Action", which vividly described the customs' efforts to promote Risk control and other methods help enterprises solve difficult stories.

Special publicity relying on the base. Make full use of the "Customs Intellectual Property Protection Exhibition Hall" built in Yiwu, Zhejiang, to publicize the customs protection policies and regulations for intellectual property, improve the understanding of customs from all walks of life, and promote the awareness of intellectual property protection in the whole society. In the whole year, it received more than 120 batches of about 6000 visitors from domestic and foreign government organizations, business enterprises, rights holders' representatives, news media and other visitors.

In 2015, China Customs made remarkable achievements in intellectual property protection, which was fully recognized by all parties. In September 2015, Interpol awarded China Customs the "International Intellectual Property Crime Investigation Cooperation Award" To commend the outstanding performance of China Customs in combating infringement and counterfeiting.

　　 3、 Conclusion

The year 2016 is the first year of the 13th Five Year Plan for China's National Economic and Social Development, and also the year of the expansion of the "Qingfeng" initiative. The national customs will earnestly implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and the Central Economic Work Conference, further strengthen the firmness and initiative in combating infringement and counterfeiting, closely focus on the implementation of the national innovation driven development strategy and the strategy of strengthening China's intellectual property rights, establish a supply side reform thinking, and give full play to the customs' inbound and outbound intellectual property protection functions, We will focus on creating favorable conditions for market players to participate in international competition, continue to promote the "cool breeze" action, and further strengthen the governance of infringement and counterfeiting in the Internet field and the special law enforcement of mail and express channels. We will pay more attention to the combination of development and construction, more attention to governance according to law, more attention to capacity building, more attention to social co governance, more attention to overall coordination, continue to maintain the high pressure situation of combating infringement and counterfeiting, maintain the overseas image of Made in China, promote the cultivation and development of enterprises with intellectual property advantages, and boost the transformation from Made in China to Created in China and the transformation of Chinese products to Chinese brands.