Asia IP

China General Administration of Customs (GAC) is implementing a new online recordation system for intellectual properties on March 1, 2014, allowing the application and examination process to go paperless.

Under the current regulations on customs’ IP protection, one has to file a recordation with the customs before receiving its protection. Rights holders have to submit electronic data on the internet and have the paper documents sent to the customs for recordation.

After the new system takes effect, applicants can complete the whole application procedures on the internet. Besides being able to correct mistakes instantly, the time and work load for application is expected to be greatly reduced.

Moreover, the new system allows applications to pay the recordation fee after the customs making the decision, and provides notification services for applications on the application procedures.

According to GAC, the new system is expected to bring more convenience for rights holders and to increase the reliability and accuracy of the recording information. Hence increasing the efficiency of the customs cracking down infringement.