HDMI Blog

More Counterfeit HDMI Products Seized as Efforts by HDMI LA’s International Compliance and Licensing Team Continues

Tony Chi of HDMI Licensing Administrator, Inc. presented a Certificate of Appreciation to the Acting Customs Commissioner Shih-Tung Chang at Keelung Customs
(Photo by Reporter Chi-Sheng Kuo)

HDMI LA works with customs authorities worldwide to protect brand and trademarks. As a result, there are more seizures of unlicensed HDMI products. International compliance teams are responsible for many product seizures at trade shows where unlicensed products are removed and detained, factory raids, and seizures by local customs officials.

 
HDMI LA reminds everyone that resellers and retailers are usually unaware that some suppliers are unlicensed, or are using unlicensed manufacturers, until the products they’ve ordered are seized by customs, leaving them out-of-stock during key selling seasons. In almost all cases when products are seized, they cannot be released. Resellers must demand their suppliers provide only licensed products in their terms and conditions and ask to see supporting paperwork—not simply those that meet HDMI licensing requirements, but also all of the licensed IP in products.
 

The following article is reprinted from: China Daily News

Reported by Reporter Chi-Sheng Kuo / Keelung


From the end of December of last year to January of this year, Keelung Customs successively seized imported counterfeit HDMI Cables from various imported containers, with an estimated market value of over TWD 280 million. Keelung Customs will investigate and handle them in accordance with the Regulations Governing Customs Measures in Protecting the Rights and Interests of Trademark.
 
Keelung Customs Business Team 1 successively found multiple batches of imported counterfeit HDMI® Cables when they inspected the customs clearance of imported sundry goods containers. After customs officers unpacked and inspected them, they found that these cables were marked with HDMI, but the trademark was not declared on the declaration form, so these goods were suspected of infringing trademark rights. The quantity reached 4,178, and the estimated market price of the infringement exceeded TWD 280 million. [Keelung] Customs immediately notified a trademark rights agent from HDMI Licensing Administrator, Inc. (HDMI LA) to come for appraisal, and the appraisal result was that they were definitely counterfeit products.
 
Keelung Customs pointed out that according to the Trademark Act, anyone who intends to sell and imports goods without the consent of the trademark owner shall be sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment or criminal detention of less than one year, or either or in combination with a fine of TWD 50,000 or less.
 
Keelung Customs’ Acting Customs Commissioner Shih-Tung Chang said that Customs has been committed to protecting intellectual property rights for a long time and will continue to stop illegal infringement at the border in the future. These counterfeit HDMI Cable products have been seized, according to law. They involve violations of the Trademark Act, Foreign Trade Act and Customs Anti-smuggling Act, etc., and will be investigated and dealt with in accordance with the Regulations Governing Customs Measures in Protecting the Rights and Interests of Trademark.
 
Keelung Customs appeals to right holders to make full use of the methods of reporting and reminders in the Regulations Governing Customs Measures in Protecting the Rights and Interests of Trademark and the “Operational Directions for Customs Authorities in Implementing Measures for Protecting the Rights and Interests of Patent and Copyright” to apply to Customs for protection so as to protect their own rights, and work together with Customs to crack down on counterfeit and pirated products.
 
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