ACTION AT the exhibition
If you have all documents in order and the person signing the complaint at the exhibition has proof of proper authority (for example, the Power of Attorney), you can file a formal complaint letter at the intellectual property complaint centre. To file a complaint:
- Present the relevant evidence of your rights and the infringement at the IP office
- Officers of the relevant administrative will consider your complaint and if they decide that an inspection is justified, and accompany you to the infringer’s stall to mediate the removal of the offending products.
- The alleged infringer is often given a certain amount of time to respond to the complaint, dependant on the local IP authority. For this reason, it is important to file any complaints as early as possible at the trade fair
- After this time, if the complaint is considered valid, the IP authorities can order the infringer to remove or cove the infringing products.
- Depending on the authority, the province and the event, it may also be possible to seize the offending products and impose a penalty.
IMPORTANT POINTS
- Enforcement action at a fair only addresses sales on the day. To deal with the source of infringing products, a longer term solution is needed. On the day action will often be combined with action after the fair
- The IP officer present at the fair may change from day to day, so you may need to explain your case more than once
- It can take several hours for the IP office to review your case
- For very technical infringement cases, for example regarding patents, there may not be a suitable competent IP officer at the fair to make decision on infringement. In these cases it may be better to take action at a later date
