The national gate builds a three-dimensional line of defense for intellectual property protection
China Customs has seized a total of 2.8 billion infringing goods
□ Our reporter Cai Yanhong
“Here shows the development history and achievements of China’s customs protection of intellectual property rights. There are more than 1,300 samples of infringing and counterfeit goods seized by customs across the country.” Recently, a reporter from the “Rules of Law Daily” came to the China Customs Intellectual Property Protection Exhibition Center (Qingdao). ), Zheng Hao, a customs officer of Huangdao Customs affiliated to Qingdao Customs, told reporters that since the opening of the exhibition center in December 2016, more than 510 legal publicity activities have been organized, and domestic enterprises, right holders, schools and other communities have been organized. People from all walks of life, as well as visitors from more than 40 countries and regions.
As the entry and exit supervision and management agency, the customs is an important link in the national intellectual property protection system.
In the past 30 years, China Customs has built a three-dimensional defense line of intellectual property protection at the country's gates, from the first establishment of the system to the wining of worldwide praise.
As of the end of 2020, China Customs has seized a total of 410,000 batches of infringing goods, involving 2.8 billion pieces of goods, with a value of 6.1 billion yuan; approved customs protection records of 103,000 pieces of intellectual property rights, and 57,000 pieces of records involving independent intellectual property rights, a total of 121 pieces 21,000 enterprises in countries and regions have benefited from the protection of intellectual property rights by China Customs.
Zero-start organization of intellectual property protection legal network
On August 23, 1994, the General Administration of Customs issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Customs Supervision Work". Chapter.
In July 1995, the State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, which is my country's first administrative regulation that specifically regulates the customs protection of intellectual property rights.
In September of the same year, the General Administration of Customs promulgated the Customs' Implementation Measures on Intellectual Property Protection, and my country established for the first time an intellectual property border protection system that complies with the rules of the World Trade Organization.
In 2000, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress revised the Customs Law and for the first time determined the functions of customs to protect intellectual property rights from the legal level.
At the end of 2003, the State Council revised the Regulations on the Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, giving the customs greater powers to investigate cases of import and export infringing goods, while simplifying the customs enforcement procedures.
The "Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols" promulgated by the State Council in 2002 and the "Regulations on the Protection of World Expo Logos" promulgated in 2004 clarified that the customs shall protect the Olympic symbols and World Expo symbols.
In 2010, my country revised the 2003 Customs Protection Regulations on Intellectual Property Rights from five aspects, further improving the legal system for customs protection of intellectual property rights.
On this basis, the customs has issued a series of regulatory documents to refine the work process of customs protection of intellectual property rights and standardize the discretionary range of administrative penalties, thereby forming a comprehensive, clear-cut, and practical intellectual property customs protection legal system system. .
Cracking down on piracy detains the first shot of intellectual property protection
"Would you like CDs?" In the 1990s, whether it was at the door of a store or at a roadside stall, people often met some hawkers holding a large carton of pirated CDs peddling around.
The protection of intellectual property rights of China Customs started with cracking down on smuggling of pirated optical discs.
On September 6, 1994, Huanggang Customs, a subsidiary of Shenzhen Customs, seized 4750 pirated CDs, including master discs, in the express channel, thus firing the first shot of the customs to prevent infringement and counterfeiting.
Since then, in the large-scale destruction of infringing and pirated optical discs organized by the former General Administration of Press and Publication and the National Anti-Piracy Office over the years, the cases of pirated optical discs seized by local customs have become a model of the firm attitude of the Chinese government to protect intellectual property rights and their effectiveness. .
Among them, in 2003, China's large-scale operation to destroy smuggled and pirated optical discs destroyed 42 million pirated optical discs.
In 2001, China joined the WTO, and China's customs intellectual property protection work has also entered a new era.
At that time, the processing trade developed rapidly, and world-renowned brands set up production in China, which made China's manufacturing level unprecedentedly improved.
At the same time, there are more and more cases of infringement of foreign well-known trademark rights.
In response to this, China Customs has seized "cottages" and beaten "li ghosts" to increase the protection of well-known foreign trademark rights.
According to customs statistics, only during the three years from 2001 to 2003 after joining the WTO, the number of trademark infringement cases detected by China Customs was 235, 557 and 741, respectively, representing an average annual increase of almost 50%. Increment.
The outstanding results China Customs has achieved in the protection of intellectual property rights have quickly been recognized by the international community.
On June 14, 2006, the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Organization awarded the "Global Anti-Counterfeiting 2005 Government Agency Commendation Award" to China Customs.
This is the first time that the Chinese government's intellectual property law enforcement agency has won a worldwide award.
In June 2007, the Secretary-General of the World Customs Organization Dane personally presented the "World Customs Organization 2007 Achievement Award in Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy" to the Chinese Customs delegation.
In September of the same year, China Customs won the "World Customs Organization 2007 Special Contribution Award for Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy" for the first time.
In June 2011, China Customs won the "2011 Global Anti-Counterfeiting Annual Best Government Agency Award", which is the only government agency in the world to receive this award this year.
In September 2016, the General Administration of Customs was awarded the "International Intellectual Property Crime Investigation Cooperation Award" by Interpol for its outstanding performance in international law enforcement cooperation.
Hold up a protective umbrella for my country's independent brands
At the same time, the customs strengthened the protection and support of domestic independent intellectual property rights and supported enterprises to go global.
The "Sanhuan" brand padlocks of Shandong Yantai Sanhuan Lock Industry Group Co., Ltd. sell well in more than 180 countries and regions in the world.
However, since the 1980s, "Sanhuan" brand padlocks have become the first choice for illegal manufacturers to manufacture and sell counterfeit products.
"The counterfeit sales areas are all over Africa, South America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The quality of exported fake'three-ring' locks is extremely poor, and some can't even be called locks. One key can open more than 20 locks." The company's deputy General Manager Yu Jiang told reporters.
"Since Sanhuan Locks successively filed related trademarks with the General Administration of Customs for the protection of intellectual property rights in 1997, the customs has woven a three-dimensional protection net for the'Sanhuan' locks." Yu Jiang said, in the following ten years With the strong support of customs across the country, customs in Ningbo, Shanghai, Jinhua, Yiwu and other places have successively seized more than 200 batches of exported counterfeit "Sanhuan" brand padlocks, with a total of more than 20,000 boxes, effectively curbing infringements.
Beifa Group Co., Ltd., located in Ningbo, Zhejiang, was founded in 1994. It is a leading enterprise in the cultural and creative industry and the number one pen export in China.
Since 2008, Ningbo Customs has investigated 11 cases of suspected infringement of Beifa brand's independent intellectual property rights.
"Fortunately, the customs intercepted timely, otherwise these infringing goods will be exported abroad, which will have a great negative impact on our brand image." When it comes to customs intellectual property protection, An Jiang, director of brand culture of Beifa Group Co., Ltd., is deeply moved.
In 2015, the General Administration of Customs deployed the "Clean Breeze" three-year operation. Customs in various regions focused on mechanical and electrical products and mobile phone electronic products exported to Africa, Arabia, Latin America and countries and regions along the "Belt and Road" routes, and continued to increase their The crackdown on illegal export of infringing goods resulted in the seizure of 1.5 billion suspected infringing goods with a case value of 5.2 billion yuan, which further established a good image of "Made in China".
Crack down on infringements in key sectors and key industries
In recent years, China Customs has closely followed the national innovation-driven development strategy, actively participated in the construction of a strong country with intellectual property rights, and gave full play to the customs' inbound and outbound intellectual property protection functions.
Since 2017, the General Administration of Customs has deployed nationwide customs for five consecutive years to carry out a special action for intellectual property protection code-named "Longteng".
"The'Longteng' action focused on the protection of intellectual property rights of domestic and foreign enterprises, carried out risk prevention and control based on the characteristics of the flow of infringing goods under different transportation channels and different trade forms, and strengthened the monitoring and investigation of import and export infringement trade in key areas, key links, and key industries. "General Administration of Customs Director General Jin Hai told reporters that by "grasping the typical and blocking the source" and adopting targeted protective measures, leading enterprises in the industry have significantly increased their market share in major exporting countries or regions.
In the first year of the "Longteng" operation, the national customs implemented key protections for more than 2,000 intellectual property rights of 150 domestic key enterprises.
Participating companies generally report that overseas markets have been significantly purified and their market share has increased significantly.
For example, Shenzhen Customs seized more than 270,000 infringements of Netac's patents, and many world-renowned companies paid patent licensing fees to Netac during the action.
"Helping Chinese companies to take off is the earliest implied meaning of the'Long Teng' action, and new connotations are given every year thereafter. For example, in 2019, the Foreign Investment Law and its implementation regulations were passed, and the customs specially strengthened the well-known brands of foreign-invested enterprises, especially multinational companies. The key protection of the legal rights and interests of intellectual property rights is included in the protection scope of the "Longteng" operation for the first time." said Sun Xiaojing, head of the Intellectual Property Section of Qingdao Customs Integrated Business Office.
According to statistics, as of April 25 this year, the General Administration of Customs had taken 126,000 intellectual property protection measures in the "Dragon" operation, and seized 89.256 million suspected import and export infringing goods according to law.
"Enterprises are the mainstay of innovation. In the "Longteng" operation, the national customs has focused on expanding the "participation" of domestic independent intellectual property rights enterprises and enhancing the "sense of acquisition" of enterprises." Jin Hai said that through customs enforcement, some with good processing and production capabilities After customs investigation and guidance, the infringing companies became authorized factories of the right holders in accordance with the law; some infringing companies with certain innovative capabilities began to develop their own brands and research and develop core technologies to seek transformation; and those shoddy infringing companies were eliminated from the market and realized Optimal allocation of resources within the industry.