China Combating Import And Export Infringement And Counterfeiting, Strengthening Investigation And Punishment

A group of counterfeit sports shoes bearing "NIKE" logo were recently seized by the customs of Ningbo, China. The amount involved was RMB 350 thousand yuan.

Since October 2010, China has been carrying out special operations for six months.

As a major foreign trade country, Chinese officials have repeatedly stressed that the protection of intellectual property rights will be strengthened in the export sector.

The commerce ministry official said

Statistics show that since October last year, the suspected cases of illegal seizure by the customs in the export link were mainly infringing foreign trademark rights.

Among them, foreign well-known clothing and sports brand accounted for the majority, involving the amount of 1 million 770 thousand yuan, 1 million 850 thousand yuan or more.

The brand names of trademark infringed are mainly Nike (NIKE) and Adidas (ADIDAS), and clothing brands include LV, DIESEL, ARMANI and PRADA.

During the export period, China seized 9 million 713 thousand and 400 counterfeit cigarettes with "MARLBORO" (Marlboro) logo and 6 million 330 thousand yuan worth of goods in Xiamen. This is also a case of smuggling of cigarettes smuggled by the Xiamen customs in recent years. The Chongqing Customs seized 179 sets of gasoline generating units suspected of infringing the trademark and patent rights of LONCIN Industrial Company and the value of the case was 905 thousand yuan.

Although the number of electromechanical products accounts for nearly 60% of China's total exports, the number of alleged infringement cases is relatively small, but the amount involved is relatively large, amounting to more than 1 million 820 thousand yuan.

The categories of infringing goods include vacuum cleaner, air compressor, gasoline generator set and so on.

During this period, postal channels became one of the ways to export counterfeit goods by criminals.

Ministry of Commerce officials said that in addition to freight, postal delivery is also illegal export of infringing goods using more pportation channels.

Hangzhou customs found 10924 tablets of suspected trademark infringement of "Viagra" in postal channels, with a value of 546 thousand yuan.

China hopes to establish a long-term mechanism to protect intellectual property rights through six months of special action.