Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement Manual - Ipr-policy.eu

Brand Protection Manual
Recordation of Your Intellectual Property
Trademark owners who duly register their rights with the Trademark Office and copyright holders
who register their works with the U.S. Copyright Office may record these rights with Customs and
Border Protection. CBP actively monitors imports in order to prevent the importation of counterfeit
and pirated goods. This should be any brand owner’s first (but certainly not only) line of defense
against the unlawful importation and exportation of counterfeit and pirated goods.
Recordation of Trademarks 20
To avail themselves of CBP’s assistance, business owners must first have a registered trademark.
Electronic recordation of copyrights with CBP is available at https://apps.cbp.gov/e-recordations.
Recordation of the registered trademark becomes effective upon approval by CBP and remains in
force for the duration of the registration period.
Any imported article found by CBP to bear a counterfeit mark is then subject to seizure by CBP.
Upon seizure, the importer is given written notice of such seizure and has 30 days to establish any
claimed exemptions from the prohibition. Failing that, the importer’s goods become subject to
forfeiture proceedings. This procedure involves the constitutionally required notice and hearing
elements for any administrative adjudication. Upon notice, the importer of the counterfeit goods has
the opportunity to petition for relief from the forfeiture. The articles seized will be forfeited unless
the trademark owner, within 30 days of notification, provides written consent to importation of the
article, exportation, or any other appropriate disposition. If the importer fails to obtain such consent,
the articles bearing the counterfeit trademark are disposed of by CBP.
In addition, CBP, in the course of examining imported goods, may disclose to the trademark owner
information to obtain assistance in determining whether an imported article bears an infringing
trademark. Further, at any time following presentation of the goods for CBP examination, but
prior to seizure, CBP may provide a sample of the suspect goods to the trademark owner for
examination or testing. This examination helps determine whether the imported article bears an
infringing trademark, provided that the trademark owner furnishes a bond holding CBP harmless
from any loss or damage resulting from the furnishing of the sample. If CBP makes a determination
of infringement on its own and detains the goods, CBP will provide the trademark owner with the
foregoing information within 30 days of the date of detention.
Recordation of Copyrights 21
As with trademarks, in order to be recorded with CBP, a copyright must be registered at the U.S.
Copyright Office. Electronic recordation of copyrights with CBP is available at https://apps.cbp.
gov/e-recordations. The application to record must also be accompanied by a copy of the certificate
of registration issued by the U.S. Copyright Office, five photographic or other likenesses of the
copyrighted work, and a fee. Recordation becomes effective upon approval by CBP, and it remains
in force for 20 years unless the copyright ownership of the recordant expires before that time. If the
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