Intellectual property right ("IPR") owners may further protect their rights in China by recording their IPR with the General Administration of Customs of PRC ("GACC"). GACC will detain infringing goods entering and leaving China based on the recorded IPRs and will inform the IPR owners. IPR owners may then take appropriate action against the infringer.
To facilitate the paper-less operation of the recordal of IPR, GACC has developed a new system, IPR Protection System, for the recordal and the system went into operation on 1 March 2014. Under the new system, IPR right owner may apply for recordal, extension, amendment and revocation of the IPR record over the internet; IPR right owner is no longer required to file paper application form to GACC.
With the abolishment of paper application, the IPR owners are required to provide all supporting documents for the recordal in electronic form. It should be noted that such electronic documents must be colour scanned copies of the originals.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
