The inexpensive and effective alternative to civil litigation in case of IP infingement

J. Benjamin Bai and Kam W. Law (both lawyers at Jones Day wrote an interesting article about customs protection.
China promulgated its customs protection regulations in 1995.
December 2003, the regulations were revised to increase the power of the customs to investigate and reduce the burden of the IP owner to protect their rights.
November 2004, new penalty regulations became effective.

Chinese customs protection regulations apply to both import and export. There are two modes of Chinese customs protection:

• the passive mode in which the customs seizes infringing products upon application of the IP owner who supplies specific information. The customs has no authority to investigate infringement allegations and the IP owner has to resort to a court to decide infringement issues;
• the active mode in which an IP owner records its IP with the General Administrator of Customs of China in advance, and the customs proactively monitors shipments of goods for possible infringements. The customs have the authority to investigate infringement allegations.

Find the article here.