CBP’s Intellectual Property Rights e-Recordation Program
For companies whose branded or copyrighted products are sold in the United States, counterfeit and pirated goods represent a persistent risk — whether or not the company imports anything itself. Infringing items dilute brand value, divert sales, expose consumers to unsafe products, and create downstream liability. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) provides a practical enforcement mechanism through its Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) e-Recordation program — an essential tool for holders of Federally registered trademark and copyright rights seeking to stop infringing merchandise from entering the U.S. market.
What CBP Recordation Is For
CBP is authorized to detain, seize, forfeit, and destroy merchandise that bears an infringing trademark or copyright when those rights have been registered and properly recorded with the agency. Recordation places information concerning eligible trademark and copyright rights into CBP’s enforcement database, enabling officers at ports of entry nationwide to identify and act against counterfeit trademarks and pirated copyright works. Not only does CBP have the ability to seize counterfeit or infringing goods at ports of entry, but CBP can and will seize infringing goods that have entered the country any place in the United States. The CBP enforcement seizure mechanism, when CBP is engaged by the rights holder, is one of the most effective means of stopping counterfeiters in their tracks.
CBP recordation does not require the rights holder to be an importer. A company that manufactures abroad through third parties, licenses its marks, or reaches the U.S. market solely through distributors often has as much at stake at the border as a company that files its own entries — sometimes more, because it has less visibility into what is actually arriving.
Requirements
Eligibility in the CBP e-Recordation program is limited to:
- Trademarks that are federally registered on the Principal Register of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). Supplemental Register marks, common-law rights, and pending trademark applications are not eligible for CBP enforcement.
- Copyrights that have been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. A work with an application pending before the Copyright Office may also be recorded temporarily for a six-month term, on request to CBP supported by proof of the pending application.
Patents are not recordable with CBP. Patent-based relief against infringing imports is pursued primarily through other channels, such as U.S. International Trade Commission exclusion orders, which provide for expedited proceedings to determine infringement and other qualifying requirements to prevent importation into the United States.
CBP also provides a separate procedure for recording qualifying trade names, which is outside the IPR e-Recordation process discussed here.
Benefits of CBP Recordation for Your IP
Recording your trademarks or copyrights with CBP delivers targeted, proactive protection:
- Proactive U.S. border enforcement — CBP can independently target, detain, and seize infringing shipments nationwide without requiring the rights holder to monitor every entry or obtain a court order in advance.
- Preservation of brand equity and revenue — Intercepting counterfeits before they reach retailers or consumers helps maintain pricing integrity, customer trust, and market position for authentic products.
- Improved detection capability — Officers receive detailed information on genuine goods, authorized manufacturers and licensees, and product images, helping CBP distinguish genuine merchandise from potentially infringing merchandise.
- Gray-market restrictions in qualifying cases — Certain recorded trademarks may receive additional protection against unauthorized parallel imports where the U.S. and foreign marks are not under common ownership or control. Where common ownership or control does exist, a rights holder may separately request “Lever-rule” protection against gray-market goods that are physically and materially different from those authorized for sale in the United States.
- Foundation for ongoing cooperation with CBP — Recordation opens the door to supplying product-identification and authentication materials, and to training that helps officers tell genuine merchandise from counterfeits.
- Enforcement at scale — A single IPR recordation extends enforcement to ports of entry nationwide, leveraging CBP’s existing risk-management and targeting systems.
For companies that own valuable trademarks or copyrights, recordation helps provide a process so that counterfeits do not move freely through the same commercial channels as their authentic products.
What CPB Recordation Involves
The application itself is the least difficult part of the process. Recordation identifies the protected rights and gives CBP information that helps officers distinguish genuine merchandise from suspect goods — authorized manufacturers and licensees, countries and facilities of manufacture, product images, distribution information, and authentication guides. That information should be kept current and the recordation renewed on time.
Further, an educational program should be exploited so that CBP officers are aware of the rights and how those rights should be kept top of mind.
A CBP trademark recordation lasts only for the current term of the underlying USPTO registration, not for a new term running from the CBP filing date. It must be renewed with CBP when that USPTO registration is renewed.
A CBP copyright recordation lasts 20 years and must be renewed with CBP every 20 years while the copyright remains in force. If a recordation is not renewed in time, a new application is required, and enforcement stops in the meantime.
What Happens When CBP Finds Suspect Merchandise
The procedures differ depending on whether CBP suspects a counterfeit mark — one identical with, or substantially indistinguishable from, a mark on the Principal Register — or a mark that copies or simulates a recorded mark closely enough that the public is likely to associate the two. Both follow the same basic shape.
- The goods are detained rather than released. CBP holds the suspect shipment while it investigates instead of allowing it into U.S. commerce, notifies the importer, and gives the importer an opportunity to establish that entry is nonetheless permissible — on the copying-or-simulating track, for example, by obliterating the offending mark or by providing written consent from the rights holder.
- CBP may come to the rights holder for help. This is the step most rights holders do not anticipate. To obtain assistance in determining whether the goods are counterfeit, CBP may disclose to the rights holder limited importation information — date of importation, port of entry, description, quantity, and country of origin — and may provide photographs, images, or a sample with identifying details obscured. If the importer does not rebut the suspicion within its response period, CBP may go further and release unredacted photographs, images, or samples showing what actually appears on the goods and their packaging, including serial numbers, lot codes, and date markings.
- The authentication information does its work. At this point, the manufacturer lists, licensee information, genuine-product images, and authentication guides supplied at recordation stop being paperwork in a database. Information released for this purpose carries conditions: CBP will advise that some of it may be protected under the Trade Secrets Act and is being disclosed solely to assist CBP’s determination, and release of a physical sample generally requires a bond. The determination remains CBP’s; the rights holder assists it.
- CBP makes the enforcement decision. Merchandise determined to bear a counterfeit mark is seized, and forfeiture proceedings follow unless the rights holder consents in writing to a different disposition; the importer retains the right to petition for relief from forfeiture. Goods on the copying-or-simulating track that are not released within the detention period are likewise seized and forfeiture proceedings instituted. Following seizure, CBP will disclose to the rights holder a fuller set of importation information, including the names and addresses of the manufacturer, exporter, and importer — often the most commercially valuable thing the process produces, because it identifies the source rather than a single shipment.
- The seizure can open further options. Following seizure, and on proper request, CBP may provide photographs, images, or a sample of the seized merchandise — and the regulations expressly contemplate their use in pursuing a related civil remedy for infringement. The rights holder also has a window, running 30 days from notification of the seizure, to consent in writing to an alternative disposition where that serves its interests better than forfeiture.
CBP retains the enforcement decision throughout, and the applicable procedure varies with the suspected violation — no rights holder should expect to be consulted before every action. But a rights holder is a participant in the process rather than a bystander, and one who has given CBP good information is a more useful participant.
How Sherman IP Can Assist
Sherman IP helps clients evaluate eligibility, prepare and file CBP e-Recordation applications, assemble the product-identification information that makes a recordation effective in practice, manage renewals and updates, and integrate border enforcement into a broader trademark, copyright, and anti-counterfeiting strategy.
Our assistance does not end with recordation. Sherman IP’s experience includes coordinating with CBP when suspect shipments are detained or seized, and advising clients on the enforcement questions that follow.
If your company owns federally registered trademarks or copyrights and faces the risk of infringing products entering the United States, CBP recordation is a high-value step toward stronger protection at the border. Contact Sherman IP to discuss whether this program fits your business and how we can support your brand-protection goals. We will review the specific requirements, process, and associated costs with you in detail.
Best regards,
Protecting Your Vision, Securing Your Future
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Procedures and eligibility are governed by current CBP regulations (primarily 19 CFR Part 133) and are subject to change. Always consult official CBP resources or counsel for the most up-to-date requirements.