According to the latest European Commission’s annual report on Customs’ efforts to enforce intellectual property rights (IPR), EU Customs officials detained almost 115 million products suspected of violating IPR last year, as opposed to only 103 million in 2010.
The seized goods, valued at over £100bn, as compared with £880m in 2010, comprised shoes, handbags, clothing, accessories, medicines, packaging materials and cigarettes.
China continued to be the main source country from where IPR infringing goods were shipped to the EU, accounting for 73 per cent of the total amount of detained articles.
Other countries supplying counterfeit goods included Turkey, which was again the main source for counterfeit foodstuffs, Panama was top for alcoholic drinks, Thailand for soft drinks and Hong Kong the main source of mobile phones. While for the first time, Syria entered the top 10 countries of origin for infringing articles, with recorded CDs and DVDs.
Any seized goods can be detained for ten working days, or three working days in the case of perishable goods, from the receipt by the right-holder of notification of detention, which allows the right-holder to investigate a possible breach of their intellectual property right.
And, if, upon examination of the goods, plus any supporting evidence, the right-holder believes that their rights have been infringed then they may take steps to protect those rights.
They can do this by either writing to the importing company asking them to abandon the goods for destruction in lieu of court action, giving a specific date upon which they expect a reply, or they may opt to initiate proceedings in the appropriate Court for enforce their rights. During this time, the goods remain impounded.