U.S. Customs and Border Protection already shares some information with trademark and copyright owners when shipments look counterfeit. This bill would let CBP share more — including details about packing materials, shipping containers, and nonpublic information from online marketplaces, freight forwarders, and other middlemen — with rights holders and any other party CBP thinks has an interest. It also raises the threshold from a mere "suspicion" of infringement to a "reasonable suspicion." Brand owners would get more visibility into suspect imports, and the e-commerce companies that facilitate sales could see their internal data passed along.
Congressional Summary
This bill expands the authority of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to provide information to certain persons (e.g., trademark or copyright owners) regarding suspected violations of intellectual property rights in trade. Under current law, if CBP suspects that merchandise is being imported in violation of certain trademark and copyright laws, it may request assistance from specified persons when determining whether the merchandise is imported in violation of these laws. To permit the party to conduct examination and testing, CBP must provide them with specified information that appears on the merchandise and its packaging and labels. This bill (1) expands the definition of person to allow CBP to request assistance from any other appropriate party with an interest in the imported merchandise, and (2) expands the scope of information that CBP is authorized to share with others to include information on and images of packing materials and shipping containers.The bill allows CBP to request this assistance if it has a reasonable suspicion (currently, suspects) that the merchandise being imported is in violation of certain trademark and copyright laws.Additionally, CBP may provide a person with nonpublic information about the imported merchandise that was generated by an online marketplace or similar market platform, express consignment operator, freight forwarder, or any other entity that plays a role in the sale, importation, or facilitation of the merchandise into the United States and has been provided to, shared with, or obtained by CBP.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-08-01
- Date Added
- 2026-04-25
Like reading a bill in plain English?
We're building an app that does this for every bill in Congress and lets you tell your reps how you want them to vote. We're a small team getting ready to launch, and we're trying to show investors that real people want this. Be one of them. Help us get it built. Leave your email and we'll tell you the moment the app is ready.