AVVO Talk: How to Avoid Design Patent Issues When Importing Home Decoration Items?

Question Continued: Can you get sued over design patent issues if you import similar items like examples below? 

For examples, 
http://www.amazon.com/Copper-Rotating-Earring-O... 
http://www.amazon.com/Rotating-Earrings-Organiz...

Deanna's Response:

Hello, If you don't have permission from the patent holder, and there is one, then you would absolutely be at risk of an accusation of such unlawful act - by US Customs first and foremost. 

US Customs has its own seizure process on imported goods, so before you even get to an issue with the patent holder as some of the attorneys below have discussed, you need to know that US Customs can seize the goods themselves so you'll never get them. Once the seizure has occurred, then the penalty phase begins and depending on your level of "culpability" (i.e., guilt level - be it negligence, fraud, first time offender, etc.), the penalty amounts can vary but it's never cheap. And yes, because the patent holder would be notified, they too may commence a lawsuit against you as well.

Sustainable Fashion Highlight of the Week: Attending CFDA - Fashion Positive - C2C Event

Highlight of the week: Being invited by the Council of Fashion Designers of America to join Fashion Positive C2C​, BIONIC YARN​, Cradle to Cradle​, and a room full of #sustainable #fashion thought makers to discuss #upcycling and creating regenerative products, as well as thinking about global systems to integrate this concept into the fashion industry in a more expansive way.

Ready to Extend Your Fashion Buying Power?

Want to increase your fashion spending power and confidence in buying? 

Check out the Fashion Planning Hub's upcoming webinar taking place this Friday, April 24th from 1 to 2 pm EST.

Take $10 off with promo code BLAPR at:    http://bit.ly/1P6UXq2

Introducing Our New Law Firm Website!

We're excited to announce that we've updated our website at www.fashioncompliance.com to make it easier to understand the legal solutions we offer for those involved in imports, exports and of course, the fashion industry.

We've also got a great new webinar series via The Fashion Planning Hub for entrepreneurs looking to learn about new subjects or for the executive looking to brush up on one.

We invite you attend our next webinar on a complimentary basis by playing our quiz, so check out www.fashionphub.com and we'll see you there!  

Ever Wonder How USPS Handles Exports and Imports?

I had the pleasure of seeing first hand how the US Postal Service (USPS) handles imports and exports by air in to and out of its Kennedy (JFK) airport location in Jamaica, New York during a recent tour I took there.

Regarding imports, USPS receives about 400 air containers per day from all over the world.  It has an International Mail Agreement which standardizes by code mail equivalents worldwide and streamlines the processing of incoming mail.  Mail passes under an infrared scanner that verifies receipt of the packages into the US mail system and reconciles payments at such time.  Of course, there is always mail for which an address cannot be read, a package’s integrity has been compromised, or some other reason necessitating the need for manual processing, so there is a dedicated area for doing this as well.

E-commerce and E-bay sales make up a huge portion of total imports by mail into the U.S. in what are known as “E-packets,” and to my surprise I saw some itty-bitty packages that identified the contents as clothing, a dress specifically, as it needed to be identified for customs purposes.  All I could think was, "this must be a really small dress!"  Or not a dress, obviously...

  In fact, 5 Million “E-packet” packages come from China and South Korea every month. Wow!

US Customs is, of course, present for cargo inspections and not only are agents walking around the floor to check and even open up questionable mail, Customs likewise has its own dedicated and restricted space for conducting larger inspections on flagged shipments.  

Regarding mail destined for foreign locales, i.e., exports, they arrive into the “Business Mail Entry Unit,” where commercial shipments have been delivered by bulk mail providers like “Asendia,” and the mail gets sorted and then assigned to a flight.  Air carriage services include their International Surface Air Lift (ISAL) option, which delivers within 7 to 11 business days, the International Priority Air Lift (IPA) option, which delivers in 4 to 7 business days, or an Express Air option which delivers in 3 to 5 business days and has a “time-definite” delivery to certain countries.  

 It should be noted however, that as not every foreign country has the infrastructure or capabilities to have this capacity, the time definite delivery cannot be offered to all destinations.

 The packages themselves are sorted by destination country and where the volume is very high, such as exports to Canada, a special section designated specifically for that country is demarcated.  With 3 working shifts a day, mail is kept moving 24 hours per day amounting to roughly 3 to 4 trailers of IPA and ISAL mail that gets exported daily.

While packages get placed onto various air carriers, 99% of air exports travel on a FedEX airplane, with whom USPS has service contracts and to which they are FedEx’s largest customer.

For more information on exports or imports with USPS, contact Mr. Kenyatta Adams of the US Postal Service at Kenyatta.A.Adams@usps.gov .

Questions/comments?  Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com

Keep up with me at www.fashioncompliance.com or:

On Facebook at www.facebook.com/FashionCompliance

On Twitter @fashcompliance

Is Your Scarf Flammable? Women’s Scarves Recalled Due to Flammability Hazard

DO YOU HAVE ONE OF THESE SCARVES? 

If so, be advised that there’s been at least 1 report of these scarves catching fire and they have now been recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission as they failed to meet the federal flammability standard for wearing apparel and pose a risk of burn injury to consumers.

Both the Julie Vos “Sierra” and “Anchor” style scarves have been recalled.

The scarves, which are under the brand, Julie Vos, are 100 percent modal fabric, which is a type of rayon, and were sold in two prints, Anchor and Sierra. Anchor (on the left) was sold in three colors, including blue, green and orange. 

Sierra (on the right) was sold in four colors, including raspberry/magenta, orange/peach, cream/gray and blue/purple. The scarves measure 75 inches long by 45 inches wide and "Julie Vos" is printed on a tag sewn into the back of the scarf.

Manufactured in India, these imported scarves have been sold at specialty boutiques across the country and online at www.julievos.com from January 2014 through February 2014 for about $165.  

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled scarves and contact Julie Vos to arrange to return the scarves for a full refund. Julie Vos will provide a pre-paid postage label for shipping.

More information on the product recall may be found here:  http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2014/Womens-Scarves-Recalled-by-Julie-Vos/#remedy

Questions or comments? Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com

Keep up with me at www.fashioncompliance.com or:

On Facebook at www.facebook.com/FashionCompliance

On Twitter @fashcompliance

Free Importing Event This Thursday at 2 PM in NYC (34th St. and Madison Ave.)

You're invited to join my partner William Shayne, Esq. and I for a presentation on how to grow a successful import business at this World Trade Week NYC event this Thursday at the Science, Industry and Business Library.  Sponsored by the NY Chapter of the Organization of Women in International Trade together with #WTWNYC.  For more on this event, click here.

AND...For anyone that may be curious about that map behind us, it's a map from (we're guessing) the 1960s of the "U.S. Customs Service."

Questions/comments?  Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com.

Keep up with me:

www.facebook.com/fashioncompliance
www.fashioncompliance.com

Or follow me on Twitter @fashcompliance

US Customs New Freedom of Information Act Portal – What Do You Want to Know?

I want answers.  US Customs apparently wants to give them to me too, as it sent me a lovely email to register as a user of its new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) portal called “FOIA Online.”

In terms of registration I’d give it a thumbs up for “User Experience” as it was very simple to do and it’s quite nice looking as well.  While I haven’t experienced the benefits first hand, U.S. Customs touts them as, and I quote:

* You will immediately receive a unique FOIA tracking number and acknowledgment that your FOIA request was received by CBP.

* You will be able to track your FOIA request any day/any time through your FOIAonline account.

* You will receive an email to retrieve responsive records or document via your FOIAonline account, when records or documents become available.

* You can view all of your historical FOIA requests via the “dashboard” in your FOIAonline account.

WOW!

Sound good to you?

Want to give it a try? 

Head over to FOIAonline and check it out for yourself.

Questions/comments?  Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com

Keep up with me at www.fashioncompliance.com or:

On Facebook at www.facebook.com/FashionCompliance

On Twitter @fashcompliance

ciao ciao!

Fashion Protection, Importing/Exporting, and the Role of Fashion Compliance

 As part of the NY Public Library’s effort to join in the New York Fashion Week festivities, trademark attorney Laurie Marshall and I spoke on “Fashion Protection” where we gave an overview on trademark protection for the fashion industries together with a crash course on Fashion Compliance 101.

While the concept of a trademark and trademark law is familiar to many, fashion compliance law is an emerging area as it deals with the non-artistic aspect of fashion rather than what makes up much of today’s conversation (the artistic side) on what is currently referred to as fashion law.

As defined by Deanna, “Fashion Compliance” is

Adherence to the laws that pertain to apparel and textile products offered for sale, or sold within, the U.S. and such laws that apply to the businesses engaged in this activity.

To make sense of Fashion Compliance, Deanna’s broke it down into “4 Cornerstones” within which the laws covering apparel and textiles generally fall into, one piece of which deals with imports and exports.

This year Deanna will be speaking on these cornerstones at events and via webinars, such as her 2014 series with Fashion Group International, the schedule for which will soon be available at www.fgi.com. 

For more on Fashion Compliance, check out her interview on FashionEdits.com by fashion journalist Faith Bowman.

Keep up with her on Facebook by liking the Fashion Compliance Facebook page (www.facebook.com/FashionCompliance), tweet her @fashcompliance, or feel free to send her an email at fashioncompliance@gmail.com.

Do You Make Men’s or Boy’s Suits of Imported Worsted Wool?

Submit Your Application by 5 pm on Oct. 15, 2013

 to Obtain a Tariff Rate Quota!

 

 

A “Tariff Rate Quota” (TRQ) is a temporary reduction on import duties, and in this particular case, it would mean a duty savings of 25%, or $25 on every $100, imported through Dec. 31, 2014.

Title V of the Trade and Development Act of 2000, which created this TRQ, requires that they be allocated to persons who

1) Cut and sew men’s and boy’s worsted wool suits, suit-type jackets and trousers in the United States, and/or

2) Weave worsted wool fabrics with an average fiber diameter of either 18.5 microns or less, OR that which is greater than 18.5 microns, for making men’s and boy’s suits.

Right now, applications to obtain this reduction are being accepted from “persons,” i.e., firms, corporations, or other legal entities, who either fall under either of the two above categories.

In order to be eligible for this TRQ, an application must be submitted on the form provided at http://otexa.ita.doc.gov/wooltrq/wool_app.htm

and be submitted by 5 pm on October 15, 2013 to the

Office of Textiles and Apparel, Room 30003

U.S. Dept. of Commerce

1401 Constitution Ave. NW

Washington, DC  20230

If you have any problems with the link above, you may also call (202) 482-3400.

Questions/comments?  Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com

Keep up with me:

On Twitter @fashcompliance https://twitter.com/fashcompliance

On Facebook http://on.fb.me/17Pocfj

On YouTube http://bit.ly/12a9lau

 

 

What Is a "Sale?" (US Customs' View of It, That Is...)

Here in NYC we are wrapping up the season of winter sales (which, as an aside, have been pretty fun to shop), but this has nothing to do with what a “sale” is when it comes to importation as this concept does not relate to discounted merchandise.

A “sale” in Federal Court language is the transfer (or “passage”) of title from one party to another for “consideration.”

In everyday language, it means where I obtain something belonging to someone else in exchange for something else.  For example, trading money (i.e., purchasing) for a cashmere sweater from Bloomingdale’s, which is likely to be discounted now given the winter sales season but alas, I digress…

Having a “sale” is relevant for valuation purposes of an imported product.  This is because duties are collected on the value of merchandise which is typically identified in a commercial invoice.  Where a part of the product is supplied by the importer and the value for this is not accounted for, it can lead to an incorrect declaration and hence, an inaccurate calculation on the collection of customs duties which must be paid to US Customs when goods are entered into the US.

A sale must therefore be identifiable.

While US Customs uses no single factor as evidence, acceptable proofs of such exchange include payment by check, bank transfer, or such other commercially acceptable means of payment.  The payment must also be made for the imported merchandise at issue.  Therefore, a general transfer of money from one corporate entity to another – which cannot be linked to a specific import transaction – would not likely demonstrate the passage of title.

Lastly, when deciding whether a sale happened or not, US Customs will look at whether the circumstances of the transaction indicate that the parties are functioning as buyer and seller.  While this is normally not difficult to identify when unrelated parties are doing business (even at the most basic level like what you would find on www.craigslist.org), when the parties are related such a clearly identifiable transaction isn’t always clear, which could lead to inaccurate value declarations as described above.

Questions/comments?  Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com

Follow me on twitter @fashcompliance

ciao ciao!