Border Seizure

Border seizure is an effective and low-cost method of combating counterfeit goods and illegal parallel imports.

A simple yet effective procedure

We lodge an application with Customs on your behalf as the rights owner. The Customs authorities then stop goods that infringe your intellectual property rights. These could include:

• Trademark rights
• Patent rights
• Copyright
• Utility patent rights
• Registered design rights
• Plant variety protection rights

In many cases the products in question can be withdrawn from the market and destroyed.

We provide support until a positive outcome is reached

The legal experts at CMS Germany support you throughout the entire seizure procedure. Acting on your behalf, we submit online border seizure applications to the Customs authorities (Central Unit for Intellectual Property). The applications list the characteristics of counterfeit goods, which we agree with you beforehand.

We are notified on your behalf when the Customs authorities make a specific seizure and consult you to establish whether your rights have been infringed. We then request the recipient to grant approval for destruction of the goods. We also organise the actual destruction, which is supervised by the Customs authorities.