From the current situation, the domestic cross-border e-commerce industry has seen frequent violations of intellectual property rights, the sale of counterfeit and shoddy products, and other illegal acts. There are many complaints from overseas consumers, and the phenomenon of “bad money driving out good money” is serious. The collective image of Chinese sellers’ intellectual property rights is not good, which seriously affects the consumer trust of foreign sellers in Chinese products. Intellectual property rights are an important tool for large companies to compete for interests, but for ordinary cross-border e-commerce sellers, they are a double-edged sword related to legal risks and survival risks.
First, legal liability and economic losses are reflected in the relevant laws and regulations. Infringement of intellectual property rights such as patents, trademarks, and copyrights requires the cessation of infringement, confiscation of illegal gains, compensation for losses to the intellectual property owner, and a fine. If the circumstances are serious and constitute a crime, criminal liability will be pursued in accordance with the law.
Second, intellectual property infringement will also have an impact on the long-term and healthy development of stores or enterprises.
(1) Normal operations will be interrupted. For example, Amazon and AliExpress have stipulated that if the products released are infringing products and are discovered by the right holder and complained to the platform, the complained products will be removed, warned, suspended from store operations, and closed.
(2) Loss of customers and damage to the seller’s reputation. If the products released are counterfeit products, buyers who have traded with the platform will not be satisfied with the quality after receiving the products and will no longer patronize. They may also complain to the platform that there are quality problems with the products or that the descriptions do not match. The seller’s reputation will be damaged.
(3) Incurring additional expenses. If the products released are counterfeit products, buyers who have traded with the platform are not satisfied with the products they received and request a return. The seller will need to bear additional shipping costs, customs duties, etc.
(4) Export customs legal risks and economic losses. Each country or economic region has a customs intellectual property protection policy. When products are exported, if the intellectual property rights holder applies to the customs, the infringing products will be detained. In the subsequent litigation, the exporter of the infringing products will be held legally responsible and suffer economic losses from the destruction of the goods.