Register Trademark  (or Tradename) with U.S. Customs Service

Trademark owners may record Principal Register registrations with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service (CBP) to block the importation of goods using an infringing mark.

Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) seizures by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are growing every year with $196,754,377 in goods seized in 2007. See U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement FY 2007 Top IPR Commodities Seized.

The most common goods that are seized in violation of U.S. Trademark and Copyright Law are footwear, wearing apparel, consumer electronics (consumer electronics includes cell phones and accessories, radios, power strips, electrical tools and appliances), handbags/wallets/backpacks, pharmaceuticals, computers, hardware, media (media includes motion pictures on tape, laser disc, and DVD; interactive and computer software on CD-ROM; and music on CD or tape ), sunglasses and headwear.

You must take action to have your Trademarks (an Intellectual Property Right) protected from threats from abroad. The USPTO does not enforce intellectual property rights for owners of intellectual property but the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) does help owners protect their rights if the owner takes the appropriate steps.

Only goods or services with trademarks that have been registered on the USPTO Trademark Principal Register (or copyrights registered through the Library of Commerce) can be protected through U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). There is a fee per classification and protection lasts for the life of the trademark (can be renewed indefinitely). Unregistered trade names (or trade styles) that are being used by manufacturers or traders (6 month minimum use) may also be recorded with CBP to afford the business with increased intellectual property protection. For examples of actual recordations with the CBP see Examples: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

Protection by the CBP is in the form of seizures of fake goods or gray-market goods, denial of entry of goods into the U.S. and civil fines “on any person who directs, assists financially or otherwise, or aids and abets the importation of merchandise for sale or public distribution that bears a counterfeit mark resulting in a seizure of the merchandise under 19 U.S.C. 1526(e).”

U.S Customs & Border Protection (CBP) IPR Enforcement information and searches can be found at: http://iprs.cbp.gov.