Chinese IP IT Law. Take-Down of Counterfeit Products

Scientific Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Law - Miscellaneous, grade: A, The University of Hong Kong (Law), course: LL.M, language: English, abstract: This paper intends to cover measures available to immediately stop the infringer by achieving a take-down of the counterfeit products from Chinese e-commerce platforms. As such, this paper only covers take-down notices on the example of Alibaba and in a summary manner administrative enforcements as well as preliminary injunctions. This paper does not address any aspects of criminal enforcement or liability.§§The business with counterfeit products is booming and has been described as the "crime of the 21st century". The BASCAP has conducted an investigation on behalf of the ICC with the aim, amongst others, to estimate the economical effect of counterfeiting on a worldwide basis. This investigation came to the conclusion that "the total value of counterfeit and pirated products" reached $455 billion - $650 billion4 in 2008 and is expected to reach $1,220 trillion - $1,770 trillion in 2015.§§According to the WCO, the PRC accounts for 71% of all seized counterfeit products worldwide in 2013 (46.6% for China and 24.7% for Hong Kong). The 2013 seizure statistics from the U.S. shows that the PRC is accountable for 93% of all seizures in terms of value in the U.S. (China for 68% and Hong Kong for 25%).