A BATCH of 1,600 electric hoverboards to be exported from Yantian Port to Israel were seized by Dapeng Customs for alleged intellectual property rights (IPR) infringements this month, according to ycwb.com.

    Shenzhen Customs had handled 12 cases involving alleged IPR infringements related to electric hoverboards during a citywide operation by the end of last year.

    Officers seized 11,710 hoverboards worth a total value of 11.29 million yuan (US$1.64 million) during the one-and-a-half-month operation, as these hoverboards involved alleged infringements on patents for invention, utility models or design.

    A total of 2.57 million hoverboards valued US$370 million were exported from Shenzhen’s ports in 2015, with 70,000 to 80,000 hoverboards being exported a day at the peak. But after many made-in-China hoverboards were removed from Amazon, some hoverboard producers called on Shenzhen Customs to protect their IPR.

    Cao Ning, deputy head of Dapeng Customs, said 9,300 hoverboards worth 9.85 million yuan were seized by Dapeng Customs during the operation, accounting for 72.8 percent of the total hoverboards seized nationwide in the same period.

    “The hoverboards in China are mainly produced in Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta region, and Yantian Port has become the major port for producers to export their hoverboards,” Cao said.

    Shenzhen Customs seized 14.45 million exported products involving a total value of 37 million yuan for alleged IPR infringements last year. Customs has taken measures to protect the independent IPR of 692 batches of exported products, up 560 percent compared with 2015.

    (Zhang Yang)