(1) A product which infringes a patent protected under this Act is subject, upon request and security being given by the rightholder, to seizure by the customs authority, on import or export, insofar as the legal infringement is obvious and there is no requirement to apply Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1383/2003 (OJ L 181, 29.6.2013, p. 15), as amended. This applies to transactions with other Member States of the European Union and with the Contracting Parties of the Agreement on the European Economic Area only to the extent that controls are carried out by the customs authorities.
(2) Where the customs authority orders seizure, it without delay informs the person entitled to dispose and the person making the request. The origin, quantity and place of storage of the product as well as the name and address of the person entitled to dispose are communicated to the person making the request; the privacy of correspondence and posts (Article 10 of the Basic Law) is thus restricted. The person making the request is given the opportunity to inspect the product, provided that this does not interfere with business or trade secrets.
(3) Where no objection is lodged in respect of the seizure before the expiry of a period of two weeks following service of the communication referred to in subsection (2) sentence 1, at the latest, the customs authority orders confiscation of the seized product.
(4) Where the person entitled to dispose objects to the seizure, the customs authority informs the person making the request thereof without delay. The latter is to declare to the customs authority without delay whether he or she upholds the request under subsection (1) in respect of the seized product.
1. Where the person making the request withdraws the request, the customs authority revokes the seizure without delay.
2. Where the person making the request upholds the request and submits an enforceable court decision ordering the impounding of the seized product or imposing a restraint on disposal, the customs authority takes the necessary measures.
Where the cases referred to in no. 1 or no. 2 do not apply, the customs authority revokes the seizure after the expiry of a period of two weeks following service of the communication to the person making the request under sentence 1; where the person making the request proves that they have requested, but not yet received, a court decision in accordance with no. 2, the seizure remains in force for a maximum of a further two weeks.
(5) Where the seizure proves to have been unjustified from the outset and the person making the request has upheld the request in accordance with subsection (1) in regard to the seized product or did not without delay make a declaration (subsection (4) sentence 2), he or she is obliged to compensate the person entitled to disposal for the damage caused by the seizure.
(6) The request under subsection (1) is to be made to the Central Customs Authority and remains in force for one year unless it has been made for a shorter duration; the request may be repeated. The person making the request is charged the costs of official acts connected with it, subject to section 178 of the Fiscal Code.
(7) Seizure and confiscation may be contested using the appellate remedies admissible in respect of seizure and confiscation in regulatory fines proceedings under the Act on Regulatory Offences. The person making the request is to be heard in appeal proceedings. An immediate appeal (sofortige Beschwerde) may be filed from a local court decision; the higher regional court decides on it.