The infringement of IP rights can have a significant negative impact on companies and on the economy as a whole. Counterfeit or pirated products not only harm right holders but also affect safety and competitiveness in the market.
In this context, Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 seeks to strengthen the protection of IP rights by allowing customs authorities to act proactively to prevent the introduction of infringing goods into the European Union market.
Under this Regulation, persons or entities with standing to bring judicial proceedings to determine the infringement of an intellectual property right may submit a customs intervention application to the competent customs authority.
Such an application, which may take the form of a national application or a Union application, aims to request the intervention of customs authorities in relation to goods suspected of infringing IP rights and must contain sufficiently detailed information to enable the identification of those goods.
Once the intervention application has been granted, the right holder may request amendments to the original application, as well as an extension of the period of customs intervention. Such requests must be made in accordance with the applicable rules and duly justified in light of developments in the situation.
The submission and management of these applications are carried out electronically, through the national portals made available by the customs authorities of the Member States and through the Intellectual Property Enforcement Portal (“IPEP”), integrated into the Anti-Counterfeiting and Anti-Piracy Information System (“COPIS”). This electronic processing model ensures more efficient communication between right holders and customs authorities, allowing for faster handling of relevant information and more effective monitoring of the status of submitted applications.
As regards the procedure, once the intervention application has been granted, customs authorities have at their disposal a set of measures aimed at addressing suspected IP infringements, including, in particular, the suspension of the release of goods or their detention, the inspection of the goods and, in certain cases, their destruction. These measures allow for the immediate containment of the circulation of potentially infringing goods.
Where the inspection confirms the existence of an infringement of intellectual property rights, the right holder may, in addition to the customs measures, resort to the appropriate judicial mechanisms, whether civil or criminal, in order to defend its rights and hold the infringers liable.
As such, customs intervention represents a significant advance in the protection of IP rights within the European Union and provides right holders with an effective mechanism to combat infringement and mitigate its impacts.
Belzuz Abogados, S.L.P. has experienced lawyers in IP law and can provide legal advice in this area.