Vide Circular 41/2007 –Customs, The Government of India has notified and published the Intellectual Property Rights (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules, 2007 and the instructions for its implementation.
The Government of India in compliance with its TRIPS obligations to implement border control issues and curb infringement of intellectual property rights has issues the aforesaid circular that prohibits import of goods that infringe national IPR laws as well as IPR laws prevailing in the EU and other countries.
The Rules inter alia provide for modalities pertaining to registration by the Customs, issuance of notice by the IPR holder, provisions for protection to the rightful importer etc.
I read your blog entry with lots of interest. Are you sure that the circular prohibits “import of goods that infringe” . . . “IPR laws prevailing in the EU and other countries”.?
that would indeed be remarkable. but r u sure the circular can be read in that manner ?
that was not my reading. is there any other notification / rule that you r reading along with the linked circular?
I have been waiting for some action by the Government in this aspect for a long time and am delighted to finally see it! This will finally give the right holders an effective tool to prevent parallel importation!
Also the notification, by using the words – “while the mandatory obligations under Articles 51 to 60 of the TRIPS dealing with border measures are restricted to Copyright and Trade Marks infringement only, the said Rules deal with Patents, Designs and Geographical Indications violations as well, in conformity with the practice prevailing in some other countries, notably EU countries.” – has also given the right holders some leeway by allowing them references to EU situations/cases.
Great going India!
Hi said and Sneha….thank you for the comments.
Said, if the rules framed are in conformity with EU rules, then such goods that infringe EU rules would also constitute an infringement at the time of importation….I would interpret it thus.
Thanks
Aysha
The enforcement notification issued by the government for the customs authorities may apparently appear to be very sound and necessary. But, to get into the regime that exists in the EU or the US, India needs a lot of re-thinking. So as to say that, the conditions here in India are far too different than what exists there in the West. It has to be borne in mind that it was never us, but they, who defined and thereby, are enjoying the fruits of the so-called “intellectual” property. The very idea of having it as a form property is absolutely flawed, morally or legally.
Did the bloggers forget altogether what happened when they imitated(and thereby counterfeited) our own “HALDI” and “BASMATI”??
It is just the tip of the iceberg. More such regime shifts are to follow…..and they are likely to have their way.
The beholders of the comments welcoming the shift in the customs authorities’ approach at the entry point perhaps knew that in the days to come it just might even be their own travel bags which could be held or their laptops seized or destroyed and they themselves prosecuted without even been tried for no infringement at all. This is what is being contemplated in the recently negotiated ACTA(Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement)that purports to give such sweeping powers to authorities who do not have any idea of the issues relating to IPRs or even a very basic knowledge about them… I wish they knew….and so did we…ourselves!!
Thanks,
Regards to all.