Across China: Yiwu

Infringement seizures

The Yiwu Customs Office, which opened just one month ago, already has seized 1.04 million pieces of infringed products with a value of 4.7 million yuan.

The seized items illegally infringed on the patents of Nike, Sony, Nokia and other famous brands.

The Customs office cited the special IP Protection Section that was set up for the first time in the country.

Yiwu is the country's largest small commodities distribution center.

Targeting its own market characteristics, Yiwu Customs officials developed a series of systems and regulations related to IP protection.

The agency also developed a "Management System for IP Infringing Products Storage" strategy and implemented connected supervision and control between storage and Customs.

At the same time, the office also actively researched changing patent infringement trends and also those export regions and commodities with a high risk for infringement.

At the end of August, Yiwu authorities seized thousands of fake Nokia batteries with a value of 2 million yuan in a container that was bound for Sudan.

(China Daily 09/14/2009 page9)