Defence and customs protection of intellectual property rights
Find out more about intellectual property rights and how to protect them in the field of customs.
Yes, the regulations of the European Union provide for a procedure regarding goods suspected of infringing intellectual property rights that are, or should be, under customs surveillance or subject to customs control within the customs territory of the Union, and in particular goods declared for release into free circulation, export or re-export, when they enter or leave the customs territory of the Union and when they are included in a suspension regime or in a free zone.
The intervention of the customs authorities will consist of suspending the granting of release or the retention of those goods suspected of violating certain intellectual property rights until their destruction, or until it is determined whether they are actually goods that violate these rights. .
Customs does not decide on the possible violation of rights. Customs only applies, from neutrality, a regulated procedure, aimed at detecting possible violations of rights, facilitating the agreement between the parties involved and, where appropriate, guaranteeing the exercise of jurisdictional actions that they consider relevant .
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The goods:
- that have been released for free circulation under the SPECIAL DESTINATION regime
- of non-commercial nature contained in the personal luggage of TRAVELERS
- manufactured with the consent of the rights holder but distributed outside the official distribution network (parallel trade)
- manufactured by a person duly authorized by the rights holder to manufacture a certain quantity of them that exceeds the quantity agreed between said person and the rights holder (overproductions)
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In general, goods suspected of violating an intellectual property right that are, or should be, under customs surveillance or subject to customs control, and in particular goods that are in the following situations :
- when they are declared for release into free circulation, export or re-export;
- when they enter or leave the customs territory of the Union;
- when they are included in a free zone or suspension regime
- In particular, when they are included in a customs transit regime (non-Community goods that circulate from one part of the TAU to another under a suspensive regime, subject to surveillance and control, but may not be destined for the EU market), unless the declarant or the owner of the products can demonstrate that the owner of the Union trade mark is not entitled to prohibit the marketing of the products concerned in the country of end-use.
a) a brand; b) an industrial design; c) a copyright or any other related right under national or Union law d) a geographical indication; e) a patent under national or Union law; f) a complementary protection certificate for medicines, (Regulation (EC) 469/2009 of May 6, 2009, relating to the complementary protection certificate for medicines; g) a complementary protection certificate for phytosanitary products, provided for in Regulation (EC) 1610/96 of July 23, 1996, which creates a complementary protection certificate for phytosanitary products h) community protection of plant varieties, in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) 2100/94 of 27 July 1994 on the Community protection of plant varieties i) protection of plant varieties in accordance with national legislation; j) a topography of a semiconductor product provided for in national or Union regulations; k) a utility model to the extent that it is protected as an intellectual property right by national or Union law; l) a trade name to the extent that it is protected as an exclusive intellectual property right by national or Union law.
That is, all intellectual property rights, excluding parallel trade (goods manufactured with the consent of the rights holder) and overproduction (goods manufactured by a person authorized by the owner, above the agreed quantities) (art.1.5 R(EU) 608/2013). (Recital 6 of the preamble to R(EU) 608/2013 excludes them because they have been manufactured with the consent of the rights holder, although marketed for the first time in the European Economic Area without his consent. Although it is illegal trade, they have been manufactured as authentic and it is considered that no efforts should be wasted on customs control in these cases.