Chapter 15 of the Customs Act governs the customs authority's detention of IPR goods that constitute an infringement of intellectual property rights and similar violations of the Marketing Control Act.
| Note: An update of this article is pending. Please note that some terms and/or references may differ from the Movement of Goods Act and the Customs Duty Act that enters into force from the 1st of January 2023. |
The Norwegian Customs Service will contact the rightsholder when goods suspected of being IPR goods have been detained. It will then be up to the rightsholder to decide if they wish to pursue the case further. Without such follow-up, the detained goods will be released.
The customs authorities have three grounds for detaining goods we suspect of being IPR goods:
- Detention on the basis of a decision on assistance from Norwegian Customs
The rightsholder can apply to the customs authorities for assistance with detention of IPR goods.
- Detention on the basis of a preliminary court order
The rightsholder may choose to make use of the option of obtaining a preliminary court order.
- Detention where there is no decision on assistance or preliminary court order
Where the rightsholder does not have a decision on assistance from the customs authorities or a preliminary court order, Norwegian Customs has on its own initiative the right to detain goods that we suspect are IPR goods.