Apply for relevant intellectual property matters

Intellectual property (IP) is crucial for cross-border e-commerce merchants, directly affecting their business compliance, market competitiveness and long-term development.

1. Avoid infringement risks and ensure compliance operations

Strict platform rules: Amazon, eBay, AliExpress and other platforms adopt a "zero tolerance" policy for IP infringement, which may lead to the removal of products from shelves or even the closure of stores and freezing of funds.

Case: In 2023, Amazon removed more than 50,000 Chinese sellers' products due to trademark infringement.

High legal compensation: The cost of overseas infringement litigation is extremely high (for example, the compensation for a single case in the United States can reach millions of dollars), and some countries (such as Germany) will even pursue criminal liability.

2. Protect your own brand and prevent plagiarism

Trademark registration is the first step to go overseas:

Sellers who have not registered their trademarks may be preempted, resulting in the inability to sell in the target country (for example, "Anker" was preempted in the EU in the early days and spent a lot of money to buy it back).

Brand registration (such as Amazon Brand Registry) can unlock functions such as anti-follow-selling and A+ pages.

Patent protection of product uniqueness:

For example: Shenzhen DJI prevents competitors from counterfeiting drone technology through global patent layout.

3. Increase product premium and consumer trust

Branded premium: Goods with trademarks and patents are usually more expensive (such as SHEIN increasing the added value of clothing through design patents).

Consumers identify genuine products: Trademarks and anti-counterfeiting marks (such as UL certification) reduce overseas buyers' concerns and reduce return rates.

4. Deal with malicious attacks from competitors

Prevent "patent phishing": Some companies specialize in purchasing patents to sue sellers (such as the US "Troll" company launching batch lawsuits against Bluetooth headsets).

Preemptive registration defense: Register IP in major markets (the United States, Europe, and Japan) in advance to avoid counterclaims for infringement after being preempted by competitors.

5. Unlock platform traffic and policy dividends

Platform support plan:Amazon IP Accelerator helps sellers quickly obtain trademarks and enjoy brand traffic tilt.

AliExpress gives search weighting to patented products.

Participate in overseas promotional activities: For example, "Black Friday" and "Cyber 1" usually require products to have intellectual property certificates.

6. Necessary thresholds for expanding international markets

Enter offline channels: Retailers such as Walmart and Costco require suppliers to provide IP legitimacy certificates.

Avoid customs seizures: European and American customs will check IP authorization documents (for example, in 2022, a toy factory in Shenzhen was destroyed by the US Customs due to lack of IP certificates).

7. Risks and opportunities in emerging fields

AI and digital goods:Copyright disputes over AI-generated content (such as MidJourney pictures) may lead to litigation.

NFT digital collections need to clarify the ownership of intellectual property rights on the chain.

Green economy: Under the European "carbon tariff" policy, environmental protection technology patents will become a competitive barrier for cross-border sellers.

IP response strategies for cross-border e-commerce merchants

Pre-layout:

Priority registration of trademarks in core markets (USPTO, EUIPO).

Patent searches (such as Google Patents) confirm that there is no infringement risk for products.

Make good use of tools

Amazon Transparency program prevents copycat sales.

Third-party IP monitoring tools (such as Red Points) track infringements.

Flexible cooperation

Obtain legal IP use rights through authorization (OEM/ODM).

Join industry alliances (such as the Cross-border E-commerce Intellectual Property Protection Alliance) to share resources.

For cross-border e-commerce merchants, intellectual property has changed from an "optional cost" to a "survival necessity." Ignoring IP protection may lead to huge losses, while proactive layout can be transformed into brand premium, market access and competitive barriers. In the era of globalization and digitalization,

"No IP, no cross-border"has become an industry iron rule.

Based on this, our company entrusted Hangzhou Excellence Zhishan Intellectual Property Co., Ltd. to apply for relevant intellectual property matters to the State Intellectual Property Office.