What is an intellectual property right?
Broadly defined, it is the exclusive ownership of an original product of the thought processes. The Federal Government registers four broad categories of intellectual property:
Patents
Trademarks
Copyrights, and
Mask Works
In addition, Federal law gives some recognition to trade names, which need not be registered.
How do these categories differ?
How do I register a claim to an intellectual property right?
Write to the appropriate agency for specific information. For patents and trademarks write:
For copyrights and mask works, write:
NOTE: If you want Customs to help protect any intellectual property for which the Federal Government provides registration and in which you have an interest, it is imperative that it first be registered with the proper agency.
How can Customs help protect my intellectual property?
The action which the Customs Service can take to help protect intellectual property depends on the type of intellectual property involved.
Customs has no authority to prevent the importation of goods which violate a PATENT unless directed to do so by an exclusion order issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) under the provisions of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended. An exclusion order directs the Secretary of the Treasury to deny entry to imports in violation of the order. The Customs Service acts for Treasury in enforcing these orders.
The ITC can also issue exclusion orders against goods imported by the use of many other unfair trade practices, such as violation of TRADEMARK, COPYRIGHT, and MASK WORK registrations (and the violation of TRADE SECRETS, which are not otherwise protected by Federal law).
The ITC can direct Customs to seize imports from repetitive violators of an exclusion order.
Details on the procedures to be followed in obtaining an exclusion order can be obtained from the:
While Customs cannot enforce a PATENT on its own authority, it can assist patent owners in attempting to determine if imports of infringing goods are taking place. Customs will survey imports and advise the patent owner of the names and addresses of importers whose goods appear to infringe the patent.
Customs charges a fee for this service, which may be of 2, 4, or 6 months' duration. Patent owners often use the results of Customs patent surveys as evidence for the ITC to begin exclusion order proceedings. The information may also be used in developing a patent infringement lawsuit.
Owners of registered TRADEMARKS, of registered COPYRIGHTS, and of TRADE NAMES can record these rights with the Customs Service. Recordation is relatively inexpensive, and subjects imports of violative items to seizure and forfeiture as prescribed by the Customs Regulations.
The only protection Customs can give a MASK WORK is by means of an ITC exclusion order or court order directing denial of entry of violative items.
Specific information concerning patent surveys and trademark, trade name, and copyright recordation can be obtained from the:
How can I report a Customs-related intellectual property rights violation?
You can either call Customs' nationwide toll-free hotline - 1-800-BE ALERT - or contact the local U.S. Customs office listed under Department of the Treasury in your phone directory.
IMPORTANT - Help Customs Help You:
To effectively enforce intellectual property rights, the Customs Service relies heavily on the cooperation of the owners of these rights. If your intellectual property is the subject of an ITC exclusion order or of a Customs recordation, you must help us to help you. It has long been Customs' experience that industrial intelligence gathered by parties-in-interest is a powerful tool in aiding us to properly muster our resources to detect and deter violative importations. To merely rely on the fact of recordation or the existence of an ITC exclusion order is not enough. You are in the marketplace; tell us what you find there so that we can focus our enforcement efforts on today's real threats.