Having Problems With Counterfeits?

New product piracy regulation in place

On 1 January 2014, the new Product Piracy Regulation (EU) 608/2013 ("PPR 2014") entered into force. This Regulation is now the legal basis allowing customs authorities within the entire EU to stop goods potentially infringing intellectual property rights from being imported into the EU.

The procedure under which such goods can be detained and ultimately destroyed has now been widely harmonized across the EU Member States. These are the most important facts:

Broader Scope of IP rights covered

PPR 2014 covers inter alia trademarks, copyright protected works, patents and -- in addition to the rights already covered under the previous regime -- also trade names and utility models.