China Customs nab 433 infringement cases in a month

January 4, 2008

Chinese Custom officers cracked down upon 433 infringement cases in October, the first month after it launched the five-month campaign.
The figure, which equals to 14 cases daily, realized a 57-percent increase compared with that of the same period last year, sources from the China Customs said.

The campaign, launched on October 1 with the code name of Dragon Boat Action, is the largest of its kind conducted by China Customs in recent years in an effort to protect Intellectual Property. It is scheduled to come to an end on March 31 of next year.

On the first day of the campaign, Shenzhen Customs intercepted two infringement cases, confiscating 8,774 pairs of fake sports shoes, including the brands of ADIDAS, PUMA, BEEBOK, NIKE, ASICS, etc.

“We hope the action will not only cut down the number of exporting commodities that infringe others’ IP rights, but give a lesson to domestic importing and exporting companies, so as to improve their awareness of the importance of IP protection and create a better environment for the task in China,” said Meng Yang, director of Policy and Legal Affairs Department of China Customs.