Skip to main content
European Commission logo
IP Helpdesk

Infringement and Enforcement

The infringement of intellectual property (IP) rights through, among others, counterfeiting and piracy creates substantial losses to industry, as it undermines companies’ investments in innovation and marketing.

Infringement and Enforcement

The infringement of intellectual property (IP) rights through, among others, counterfeiting and piracy creates substantial losses to industry, as it undermines companies’ investments in innovation and marketing.

The legal framework protecting IP owners from infringement may differ from country to country. However, the fundamental aim of all these legislations is to   provide the owners of IP rights - including individuals, SMEs or big corporations - the means to enforce their rights against infringers, that is, the means to stop infringements and to obtain economic compensation from such wrongdoings.

Infringement

As always, the first step is to register the IP rights that your company wishes to protect. Then, you need to establish procedures to monitor trade fairs, online sellers, and any other areas where infringing products might be sold or marketed. Take into account that, both in Europe and abroad, simple registration is, in most cases, not enough to duly protect your IPRs. It is necessary for the IPR owner to be proactive to reach higher levels of protection. First of all, you need to discover promptly if someone is infringing your rights and then be ready to respond.

How will you find your IP being infringed? Your customers might tell you about competing products, you might find infringements for sale on the internet, you might see infringing products at a trade fair.

European IP Helpdesk

7 FEBRUARY 2021
European IP Heldpesk - Your Guide to IP Management in International Business
English
(1.02 MB - PDF)
Download

China IP Helpdesk

2 OCTOBER 2020
China IP SME Helpdesk - How to Remove Counterfeit Products from E-commerce websites
English
(7.5 MB - PDF)
Download
2 OCTOBER 2020
China IP SME Helpdesk - How to Record IPR with Customs in China
English
(1.59 MB - PDF)
Download

Latin America IP Helpdesk

6 JANUARY 2018
Latin America IP SME Helpdesk - IPR Enforcement in Uruguay
English
(2.71 MB - PDF)
Download
1 JULY 2020
Latin America IP SME Helpdesk - Intellectual Property Enforcement in Chile
English
(5.03 MB - PDF)
Download

South-East IP Helpdesk

2 OCTOBER 2020
South-East Asia IP SME Helpdesk - Trade Fair
English
(3.37 MB - PDF)
Download
2 OCTOBER 2020
South-East Asia IP SME Helpdesk - Ecommerce
English
(857.77 KB - PDF)
Download
2 OCTOBER 2020
South-East Asia IP SME Helpdesk - Secure evidence for infringement
English
(436.61 KB - PDF)
Download

 

Alternative Dispute Resolution

An infringement of your IP can have a great impact on your finances and put your survival at stake. Traditionally, there was only one way to settle contractual and non-contractual disputes: litigation. Those ways are still available, however, they can be lengthy and expensive. Therefore, you should first evaluate an Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms (ADR). There are many kinds of ADR: negotiation, mediation, conciliation, neutral evaluation, expert determination, arbitration.

You should choose the one that works best for your company, also based on the kind of infringement and infringer.

Europa IP Helpdesk

7 FEBRUARY 2021
European IP Heldpesk - Your Guide to IP Management in International Business
English
(1.02 MB - PDF)
Download

Latin America IP Helpdesk

1 JANUARY 2020
Latinamerica IP SME Helpdesk - Alternative dispute resolution
English
(2.12 MB - PDF)
Download

 

Enforcement

If ADR is not an option for you, you can try the traditional enforcement routes. There are mainly three kinds of enforcement: administrative actions, civil litigation and criminal proceedings.

Not all of them are available in every country and for every kind of right. Therefore, you should pick up the one that suits you among the ones that are available for your case.

China IP Helpdesk

2 OCTOBER 2020
China IP SME Helpdesk - Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in China
English
(1.37 MB - PDF)
Download

South-East IP Helpdesk

2 OCTOBER 2020
Southeast-Asia IP SME Helpdesk - Enforcement
English
(5.72 MB - PDF)
Download

 

Newsletter Blue Background

Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest IP news