【Case Briefing】
At 8 a.m. Saturday, April 15, 2006, Shanghai Customs was informed that a freight container filled with fake Lacoste (image) T-shirts was going to be loaded for export from Shanghai Port. It was weekend and the information was too simple to lock the suspect. In order not to jam with the smooth customs clearance of legal products, the customs offices started by judging if the information was true and accurate. Rounds of risk analysis helped them narrow the focus and eventually spot the suspected container. The container was then checked out to have contained by a Jiangsu based company 13,000 some T-shirts exported to Singapore with Lacoste (image) on them. The T-shirts were verified on site by the right owner to be fakes.
【Result of Disposition】
The case was fully invested and the Customs decided that the offender shall be stripped of such infringing goods and fined according to administrative rules.
【Case Analysis】
As the Customs puts more emphasis on the crack upon infringement, offenders intend more often to clear the customs on weekends and holidays when the Customs seems to be understaffed. However, Shanghai Customs, on one hand, is able to cast day to day alert by following the policy of “5+2” to make sure no single day will be a blind spot. On the other hand, the Customs makes timely and regular reports on the latest infringement information, how to figure out fakes and how to analyze possible risks. Such reports are helpful to the knowledge and ability building of customs officers.
The severe regulatory abilities and investigating efficiencies have won over a lot of praises. On November 17, Michel lacoste, the CEO of LA CHEMISE LACOSTE S.A, honored Shanghai Customs with a tablet writing “Border Warrior and Right Protector”.
(source: Shanghai IP Administration)
