Countering counterfeiting

The New Zealand Customs Service is being given greater powers to prosecute intellectual property rights (IPR) infringements under proposed legislation amending the Copyright and Trade Marks Acts.  

Currently, Customs has no ability to prosecute IPR infringement. Under the proposed legislation, staff of the Ministry of Economic Development's enlarged National Enforcement Unit will be empowered to investigate offences, detain goods, and obtain search warrants.  Customs officers will also gain additional powers to deal primarily with importing offences.  

The trade in counterfeit and pirated goods is a problem for customs administrations around the world, with the World Customs Organization estimating between 5 and 7 percent of all global trade is in these goods.  

The primary tool for combating counterfeit goods entering New Zealand is the Customs’ border protection notice system which has more than 190 border protection notices in effect.  

Under this system, the owner or the owner’s authorised agent of a registered trademark or a copyright work can give a notice to Customs, showing ownership of the trademark or work and requesting the detention of any goods bearing infringing signs or pirated copies of the work.  

Customs will then detain any goods that may be subject to a notice, and will carry out an investigation into them. A determination (opinion) is made as to whether the goods appear to be goods to which a notice relates. The determination is issued to the rights owner, and includes details of the importer, the supplier, and the goods.  A copy is also sent to the importer. The rights owner can then commence action in the High Court against the importer, including an order to obtain possession of the goods.  

Lodging a notice is the only way that Customs can help stop counterfeit goods entering the marketplace. An excellent example of how these notices work is the Ab King Pro exercise machine. As of January this year, Customs have stopped 6,571 counterfeit Ab King Pros entering the country since their notice was lodged. If sold for the same price as the genuine article, the goods would have been worth approximately $1.96 million.  

Lodging a notice
To help prevent importation of unauthorised copies of goods, the owner of a trademark or copyright can lodge a notice with the New Zealand Customs Service requesting the detention of the goods.

For more information on the process for lodging a notice see the Customs fact sheet Trade Marks and Copyright.


A Customs officer with counterfeit Louis Vuitton bags.

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