20 November 2006 - Press release

Protect your rights in China

The EU Commission has just published the statistics of pirated copies and counterfeit goods for 2005. Clothes and accessories are on the top of the list, which also shows that China is one of the main suppliers of pirated copies. To register a trade mark in China is the primary protection against counterfeit.

The soft packages are still on the top of the list of counterfeit goods. 64 % of the registered copied goods in the EU are precisely clothes and accessories. This is shown by the EU Commission's recently published list of copied goods.

Compared to 2004 counterfeit watches and jewelry are now above the category of pirate copied CDs, DVDs and cassettes, which is now occupying the third place.

The statistics of the EU Commission also show that it is still China that is one of the main suppliers of copied goods. In 2005 China was the country of origin of 38 % of all registered EU cases with regard to copied goods. Looking at the total number of confiscated goods in the EU in 2005, 64 % of the copied goods originate from China. That is an increase of 10 % compared to 2004.

- The statistics illustrate how important it is to protect your rights in China, says Henrik Jes-persen, legal consultant at Chas. Hude.

Of all the confiscated copied goods in 2005 in Denmark, 89 % of the cases were infringe-ments of trade marks, whereas patent infringements accounted for 9 %, and only 2 % of the copied goods infringed the copyright.

A company can protect itself against pirated copies in different ways.

- As there is a large likelihood that the pirated copies originate from China, it is both wise and necessary to have the trade mark, the patent or the design registered in China - also in connection with products that are not sold on the Chinese market. Only by having a Chinese registration it is possible to initiate a possible infringement procedure, if it turns out that the pirated copy originates from China. It is also possible to request the customs au-thorities in Denmark and in the EU to watch the import to the EU of products that have your trade mark. It is a good tool that gives your company the possibility of addressing illegal im-port, explains Henrik Jespersen from Chas. Hude, who advices companies with regard to national and international protection and application of the intellectual property rights, in-cluding patent and trade mark protection.

Contact

René Jakobsen
Communications Manager