Soft IP Can Hit Hard Against Infringers and Counterfeiters At The U.S. Border

Copyrights and trademarks are sometimes called “Soft IP,” but they have tremendous power to stop infringers and counterfeiters at the U.S. border. A registered and recorded U.S. copyright or trademark can subject infringing or counterfeit goods to seizure and destruction before those goods ever get into the U.S. The power to stop infringing or counterfeit products comes from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is tasked with enforcing U.S. copyrights and trademarks and preventing infringing products from entering the U.S. To that end, in fiscal year 2017, CBP made over 34,000 seizures of over $1.2 billion in infringing goods. That is a major service to copyright and trademark owners that CBP provides during its day to day operations and turns so called “Soft IP” into a hard defense against infringers and counterfeiters.

CBP seizure and destruction is available to any copyright or trademark owner that records his or her copyright or trademark with CBP. If your copyright or trademark is not recorded with CBP, or if you want to learn more about helping CBP to enforce your intellectual property, Marbury can help.

Find more information on protecting trademarks after registration here.
See the FY 2017 seizure statistics here.
See prior FY seizure statistics at https://www.cbp.gov/trade/priority-issues/ipr/statistics.