Seizure at Customs: Council Regulation No. 241/1999

Kador & Partner, Munich, Germany by Dr. Utz Kador and Corinna Mittwald

Council Regulation (EC) No. 3295/94 has been amended by Regulation (EC) No. 241/1999 effective as of July 1, 1999. The Regulation provides a wider protection to owners of intellectual property rights in the EU. One of the main aims was to strengthen the Community Trade Mark and to reduce administrative work and expenses in favor of Community Trade Mark owners by providing the possibility of filing one single application with Customs Authorities of only one Member State and thereby seeking actions from Customs Authorities of several or all of the Member States. In addition to counterfeit goods that infringe a trade mark registration, a copyright or a design registration, which had already been covered by the Regulation, the Regulation has been extended to include counterfeit goods that infringe patents or supplementary protection certificates. Furthermore, the Regulation has been amended to cover goods in transit, i.e. goods placed in a free zone or free warehouse.

The amended Regulation facilitates the prevention of import of counterfeit and pirated goods into the European Union by owners of patents and Community trade marks.