13.9m fake products seized
Writer: Han Ximin | Editor: Holly Wang | From: Shenzhen Daily
An officer with Shenzhen Bay Customs shows a set of fake AirPods wireless earphones.
Shenzhen Customs seized a total of 13.9 million fake products, including counterfeit phones, bags and memory chips, in 3,877 batches that infringed on the intellectual property rights (IPR) of proprietary owners in the first 11 months of the year.
The amount of products increased by 9.8 times over the same period last year, making Shenzhen Customs among the top Chinese customs in seizing counterfeit products.
“The seizure of the products in foreign trade curbed the rise of IPR infringement cases and reduced the amount of counterfeit products that entered and left China through import and export,” Shenzhen Customs said in a release yesterday.
In August 2019, Wenjindu Customs found 12,000 ear phones, 5,000 mobile phones and accessories with the trademarks of VIVO, OPPO and Mi, and 2,000 brand-name bags of LV, GUCCI, BURBERRY and RAY-BAN that hadn’t been declared to customs by the e-commerce exporter. The products were later confirmed to be counterfeits that infringed on the rights of the proprietary owners.
In October, Jim Brelsford, president of SD-3C, made a special trip to Shenzhen Customs to express thanks for their effort in protecting proprietary rights.
In July, a Dongguan company declared it would export some keyboards to South Korea. Shekou Customs said 2,000 keyboards may have infringed on the patents of Shenzhen Jingtai Electronics Co. Ltd. The keyboards were worth 300,000 yuan (US$42,630).
According to Du Xuehua, the boss of the company, customs IPR protection has beefed up confidence for the company’s development, and many companies have contacted her company for patent licensing.
In 11 months, Shenzhen Customs handled 57 IPR cases and impounded 54,000 pieces of cargo. In June, Shatoujiao Customs imposed fines on an export company for exporting 4,992 iPhone 7 LCD screens and 8,000 iPhone 7 plus LCD screens that infringed on the rights of proprietary owners.
The customs also busted 854 cases that infringed on the rights of overseas proprietary owners in 19 countries and regions in the first 11 months. A total of 1.18 million pieces have been impounded. The pieces have a total value of 19.47 million yuan.