Seized Asus and LG Phones. Source: cbp.gov
Earlier this month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted their 2018 intellectual property rights statistics. The annual report lists statistics for the products that infringe upon US trademark and copy rights or othersize subject to exclusion orders involving various agencies such as CBP, ICE, and HSI.
Here’s a summary:
1. How much product comes into the US? 11 million containers by sea, 10 million containers by truck, 3 million by rail and 250,000,000 by cargo/postal/express pacakages through the air.
2. 33,810 total seizures (333 less than FY 2017’s 34,143).
3. Total MSRP of seized goods 1.4 billion (1.2 billion in FY 2017).
4. ICE-HSI arrested 381 people, obtained 296 indictments, 260 convictions.
5. CBP’s Integrated Trade Targeting Networking (ITTN) conducted over 120 operations and seized 4,891 shipments of IPR-infringing goods with a total MSRP of $94 million.
6. Investigations by CBP’s Center of Excellence and Expertise totaled 24, with a MSRP of seized goods totaling over $11.5 million.
7. The “Truth Behind Counterfeits” public awareness campaign to educate the public on the negative impacts of counterfeit products included major billboards at airports and online ads on travel websites – it is estimated the campaign generated over 200 million views.
8. In 2018, CBP enforced over 17,641 active trademark and copyright recordations, including 2,289 new recordations and 812 renewals of expiring recordations.
9. There were over 161 million express shipments and 475 million shipped through international mail.
10. Over 90% of all IPR violations occurred among the international mail and express environments.
11. 18% of all seizures were wearing apparel/accessories, footwear came in number 2 at 14%.
12. Counterfeit watches and jewelry was the most seized product, totaling 44% of all seizures with a MSRP almost $618 million.
13. China was the number one trading partner with the most seized goods at 54% of the total number of seized goods.
The full report can be downloaded here:
If you have received a letter from Customs for alleged intellectual property rights violations, contact experienced seizure attorney David Hsu on his cell at 832-896-6288, or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com or dh@gjatradelaw.com.