Armed but not dangerous

Following an increase in the number of counterfeit goods seized in recent weeks, McCullough Robertson lawyer James Cameron revisits a useful weapon available to the TCF industry in the fight against counterfeit garments.
Clothing manufacturers can add a level of protection over and above the standard procedure of trademark protection.
It involves a simple procedure that educates Customs officers of a brand's intellectual property, enabling them to identify and seize counterfeit garments as they come into the country.
The Customs haul at the start of August of $1 million worth of counterfeit goods including jeans, handbags, wallets, watches and perfumes demonstrated the value of Customs notices.
Customs notices are a legal document that allows the Australian Customs Office to seize imported goods if they infringe registered trademarks or copyright specified on the notice.
This haul confirmed they are one of the best ways to stop counterfeit imports before they enter the Australian market and dilute the value of a brand.
Many clothing manufacturers are finding the notices more useful than taking court action against vendors of counterfeit goods. That can be a very long and expensive process and often the counterfeiter merely take on a new identity and re-offends.
A combination of factors, including the fact the bulk of counterfeit garments are imported from overseas and the thoroughness of Australian Customs, means that Customs notices are a particularly attractive option for well-known brands in the Australian TCF sector that are suffering from illegal imports.
Despite the requirement for a $10,000 security deposit, a Customs notice is still a cost-effective addition to a manufacturer's armoury in the fight against importers of counterfeit goods.
The key benefits of filing a Customs notice include:
* if you don't have one, Customs won't be able to identify and seize imports that are counterfeit's of your products
* the security deposit is only used if goods likely to be counterfeit are detected and only to the extent necessary to reimburse customs for their expenses
* they can produce better results (such as surrender of the goods by the counterfeiter) than trying to stop a counterfeiter once they are in possession of the goods and have already started selling them
* they discourage importers of counterfeit goods who may think twice about importing goods if they know a particular brand is protected by a Customs notice
* apart from providing some training on how to recognise counterfeit goods, the task of identifying counterfeit garments is completed by customs.
A very similar procedure is also available in Europe and this may be relevant for high-profile brands that have started exporting their wares to the European markets where statistics show over 70 per cent of counterfeit goods are imported.